Forensic experts may check admission documents at DU

NEW DELHI: Delhi University colleges are likely to appoint a forensic expert team this year to verify certificates and mark sheets submitted by applicants at the time of taking admission.

A 47-member admission committee, appointed by the vicechancellor, has recommended that all 63 affiliated colleges, which will start undergraduate admission process in June, appoint a forensic committee. The recommendations will finally be approved by the V-C.

“The forensic team will check all certificates for its authenticity so that colleges don’t end up giving admission to any candidate with fake certificates,” said Pankaj Garg, a member of the admission committee.

Last year, at least three colleges – SGTB Khalsa, Ramjas College and Kalindi College for Women – appointed forensic teams to verify the certificates submitted by candidates meeting the cutoff.

Anula Maurya, principal of Kalindi college, said the college had floated a tender to appoint a forensic team and the lowest bidder meeting the criteria was selected.

“There was no case of a candidate submitting fake or forged documents. But it still helped us a lot because if the team found any caste certificate doubtful, we sent it to the commission concerned to get it verified. This way, we were sure about each admission we did,” she said.

The forensic experts have machines that verifies the authenticity of certificates by reading the barcode of the documents, an official said.

A college principal, on condition of anonymity, said the certificates and mark sheets are crosschecked from the websites of the concerned board. “But sometimes one cannot check the authenticity with just naked eyes and an expert opinion is better,” the principal said.

“Wrong admissions are done in two ways. One is by submitting forged certificates and when you don’t meet cutoff and still get admission. We want to take steps to avoid getting into either of the situation,” the member said.

Recently, the university suspended admission of a Swami Shradhhanand’s students’ union president, pending enquiry, on grounds that his admission was “wrong and malafide”. Sources said the student secured admission even though his marks were lower than the required cutoff.

The university also asked the college to enquire if more such admissions were done in the college during last two years.

Another member of the admission committee said even though there has been no reported case of admission based on fake certificates, the issue was raised in committee meetings.

The Delhi police have recently busted an interstate syndicate of cheats who created fake websites of various universities and school boards, prepared fake educational certificates and mark sheets and sold them to potential clients.

LAST YEAR, THREE COLLEGES HAD SOUGHT HELP FROM EXPERTS TO VERIFY DOCUMENTS