Bihar: Asst Profs recruitment faces forged experience certificate challenge now; Chairman blames it on varsities

“The controversy is set to snowball as forged certificates are said to have found their way to the commission through most universities and in many cases the signatures have also been allegedly forged with proper seal with or without the connivance of the competent authorities. It is all a matter of investigation,” said a senior university official.

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The experience certificates are crucial to make or mar the prospects of the candidates in the final selection, as they carry 10 marks.

BSUSC chairman Girish Choudhary also confirmed that some forged experience certificates had been detected, but it was beyond the commission to verify whether they had come under the seal and signature of the competent university authority (registrar of universities).

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“I have already written to the department of education and all the universities to verify the authenticity of the experience certificates before confirmation of service of the selected candidates, though I have not put an embargo on their joining as that would affect even the genuine ones. I have also asked the universities to submit action taken report in each case of fraud for further action,” said Choudhary.

Citing an example, Choudhary said that a candidate had got marks for experience on the basis of his certificate submitted, but when asked for he said it had been lost. “As he had been shortlisted on the basis of the documents he had submitted and had got marks for experience, his interview was conducted and he was also selected, but his result was put on hold and the LN Mishra University (Darbhanga) was asked to verify. His experience certificate was found fake in verification and his candidature was terminated,” the BSUSC chairman said.

He said that he has categorically written about vigorous verification of documents before confirmation of service. “In BN Mandal University also, four such candidates have been detected even though they possessed experience certificates counter signed by registrar, who has to do it with due verification. We have found such discrepancies in 8-10 cases and referred them to the concerned universities. We will also not feel hesitant to refer these cases to the state vigilance investigation bureau, as the entire process suffers due to such acts,” he added.

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Former BN Mandal University vice-chancellor AK Roy said that there were reports of experience certificates being issued arbitrarily in many universities, which could happen only in case of monetary or other extraneous considerations.

“Once such teachers are appointed, they could also use other devious means to get their records right or delay the process, as they would be part of the system. The best practice would be to send the list of selected candidates to the universities for thorough verification of experience certificates with appointment letters and payment details of selected candidates before joining itself. Other documents should also be verified beforehand. It is a fact that the commission cannot identify forged certificates with original signature and seal. It is for the concerned universities to do,” he added.

JD-U MLC from Kosi teachers’ constituency and syndicate member of the BNMU Sanjiv Singh said the system should be such that soon after final shortlisting of candidates, the universities should be sent the list through mail for final verification in a time-bound manner and the registrars and principals should be asked to submit affidavits.

“Once the wrong teachers join, their removal will always be difficult and even if they are removed after a long process, which has been the track record in the state, the chance of another bonafide candidate would be lost forever. There is no waiting list of candidates. All precautions need to be taken before hand, else it would land in another legal battle at some point and do more harm than good to the already limping state universities. The accountability should be fixed,” he added.

Another former VC, who did not want to be quoted, said that after the detection of forged experience certificates, which could be the tip of the iceberg, the department of education has issued a format with regard to experience certificates to all the universities, but that was also too complicated and could end up creating more hurdles for the bonafide candidates.

BSUSC had advertised 4,638 vacancies of assistant professors in 52 subjects on September 23, 2020, just ahead of the announcement of state assembly elections. Till the HC stayed the appointment process in 2022 over quota ambiguity, 461 candidates had been appointed. The stay was lifted on April 18, 2024 and and so far the selection process for 39 subjects have been completed.

For 316 posts of history, the interviews of 1091 shortlisted candidates will be held from February 19-24. There are still 12 subjects left. All through the process, there have been frequent legal issues and the HC had to intervene.

Bihar legislature had passed the Bihar state university service commission Act in 2017 to vest the power of recruitment back in the commission, which was earlier dissolved in 2007. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Bihar government had constituted the commission in February 2019.