Varsity probe on fake marksheets gives clean chit to employee

Varsity probe on fake marksheets gives clean chit to employee
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

PUNE, JULY 2: Cases of forged marksheets and certificates acquired by students to get admission into junior colleges or even job placements, has the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Pune, alarmed.

However, officials insist that an internal inquiry has given a clean chit to employees of the Board, and laid the blame on unscrupulous elements outside the campus.

Officials described instances of forged documents surfacing in Pune, Dhule, and Jalgaon. In one case, a failed student managed to alter the mark-sheet to gain admission to standard eleven, said an official at the Board.

The SSC board, cautioned students, parents and college-authorities against instances of fake SSC/HSC marksheets and certificates bearing forged marks, seat-numbers or students' names that have been come to the notice of the SSC board.

``There are chances of students being duped by advertisements of private coaching classes,'' the Board says, admitting that ``Students are falling prey to bribery to gain admission to junior colleges and employment.''

But ``We have come across very few cases, all of 1999-2000,'' said a senior official, ``The frequency is more among job-seekers, than students seeking admission.'' The most recent occurrence was in Mumbai, where concerned authorities filed a police complaint.The SSC Board warned ``acts of tampering with mark-sheets and certificates, or accepting them for official use are criminal offences.'' It has called upon colleges to immediately send dubious documents to the Board for scrutiny.