HC orders criminal probe against govt official, college director

JAIPUR: In a surprising tale of coving up illegalities and filing fabricated documents, a private BEd college was caught "red handed" by the high court which ordered criminal prosecution against the district education officer (DEO) and the director of the private college.According to the facts presented in the case, a student name Rakesh Kumar took admission for Bed course in Pt. Badri Prasad TT College, Bandikui, in 2010 was allegedly asked to pay an extra sum of Rs 2000 for sending his complete attendance to the university for securing his examination admission card for the examination."When the student refused to pay the 'illegal' amount, his internal marks were not forwarded and his attendance was marked short. On a complaint made to the collector, two inquiries were conducted and several irregularities were found in the attendance register as also the fact was established that there was no fault of the student," said Brij Sharma, counsel for the petitioner.When the student approached the high court by way of a writ petition, the state education department filed an affidavit stating that the inquiry was pending against the college which was later found to be incorrect.Similarly, the director of the college filed a document alleged to be an application written by the student seeking condonation of the short attendance and assuring that he will not repeat such mistakes in future.When the application alleged to be written by the student was sent for forensic examination by a single judge bench of Justice R S Rathore, it was found that the same was forged by the college and not written by the student. It was also found by the court that in the attendance register of the college was shown working even on holidays proving that the entire record was fabricated. Considering the misconduct of the DEO and the director of the college, Justice R S Rathore directed the Jaipur Metropolitan Magistrate to register a criminal case and initiate criminal prosecution against them.