Click to play videoNew Delhi: The country's apex regulatory body for technical education is in the middle of a major corruption scandal. It's top officials were caught red-handed accepting bribes. They are now in police custody, even as the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, wants deemed universities to come clean on fees and admission procedures.
ADG Media & Communication for the CBI, Harsh Bahl says, "We have recovered over Rs 1.39 crore in 17 bank accounts of the Chairman of All India Council Technical Education, R A Yadav."
And this could just be the tip of the iceberg. All India Council Technical Education (AICTE) is the country's watchdog body for all technical and management education. However, AICTE is under a cloud with officials being caught taking bribes.
- Raids were conducted at homes and offices of AICTE officials including its Chairman, Professor RA Yadav.
- The CBI also raided the residences of AICTE officials HC Rai, Professor Ravinder Randhawa and Om Dalal.
- These raids were carried out on a tip-off by the head of an engineering college in Faridabad.
And that's not all. On Thursday, AICTE Secretary K Narayan Rao and a middleman were arrested by the CBI for allegations of accepting a bribe of over Rs 5 lakh. The two were produced in a local court on Friday and remanded to three days of police custody. The defence though claimed they were being framed.
It's clear that these allegations have perhaps permanently tarnished the reputation of AICTE, but the real question is - will this make Kapil Sibal's case of a single regulatory authority for all even stronger?
The newly-appointed HRD minister in his 100-day program has already promised several reforms to improve the standard of education across the board. This crackdown could be the first step towards the implementation of a more effective and transparent education system.
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