Gujarat minister faces fake degree allegation

The Hindu: Ahmedabad: Wednesday, 14 October 2015.

Shankar Chaudhary, a prominent member of the Anandiben government in Gujarat, is facing allegations of fake MBA degree. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Gujarat High Court alleging that Mr. Chaudhary's MBA degree, which he submitted in his election affidavit in 2012 is fake. The Court has issued notice to Mr Chaudhary, the State government and also the Election Commission. The court has posted the matter for further hearing on October 29th.

Mr. Chaudhary is Minister of State for Health, Road and Transport, and Urban Housing and is considered very close to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who has appointed Mr. Chaudhary as in charge minister for Ahmedabad city.

A RTI activist Farsu Goklani filed the petition based on details he procured through RTI in which it was revealed that Mr Chaudhary passed his higher secondary (HSC) exam in 2011 and passed an MBA in 2012!

“His MBA degree obtained from Vadodara based National Institute of Management (NIM), which was involved in selling fake degree certificates in the past, is totally fake. How can he get MBA without doing graduation?” Mr Goklani contended in his petition.

In 2008, a police complaint was filed in Vadodara against NIM for selling fake marksheets of professional degrees. Kaushal Dave, one of the partners of the institute, told local media in Vadodara that the “institute was no longer functional.”

In his affidavit in the assembly polls in 2007, Mr Chaudhary stated he was SSC passed in education qualification column. Subsequently, he passed his higher secondary school exam in July 2011 from Radhanpur, his assembly constituency.

“In his election affidavit, he has lied about his degree. How can somebody get MBA next year after passing class 12th exam? If the Delhi police had arrested a minister of the Delhi government for fake degree, why cant the Gujarat government do the same here in case of Mr Chaudhary,” asked the leader of the opposition Mr Shankarsinh Vaghela.

Meanwhile, the minister has dubbed the PIL as a “Congress sponsored attempt to malign him.” “The petitioner is associated with the Conggress party so it’s a Congress sponsored litigation which is aimed at maligning me. I have trust in the judiciary and truth will prevail,” Mr Chaudhary said without elaborating how he got his MBA degree.