TNPSC recruitment: Four govt. officials get appointments using fake certificates, booked

Four civil servants in the ranks of Revenue Divisional Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police, and Assistant Commissioner, State Taxes, have been booked for having allegedly received appointments under 20% reservation for Persons Studied Through Tamil Medium (PSTM) using fake (PSTM) certificates from Madurai Kamaraj University.

The first information report (FIR) filed in the case on October 3 has identified the accused officials as S. Swapna, 34, Assistant Commissioner (State Taxes), Madurai; N.A. Chanheetha, 40, Personal Assistant (General) to District Collector, Coimbatore; K.C. Sathish Kumar, 40, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Attur Sub-Division, Salem; and M. Kalaivani, 37, former DSP and presently Revenue Divisional officer, Kancheepuram.

Besides them, two officials from MKU – R. Sathiamoorthi, 62, former Senior Superintendent, and K. Purushothaman, 59, Superintendent, SC/ST Cell and former UG Course Section, Directorate of Distance Education, MKU – and three private individuals have been booked for cheating, forgery, and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

The three individuals have been identified as Administrator, A. Murali, 40; programme officer, R. Narayana Prabhu, 41, of Life Educational Trust, Theni; and co-ordinator of Sethupathi Institute of Higher Studies, Coimbatore, A. Rajendran.

In October 2020, Principal Secretary, Department of Higher Education, had ordered the DVAC to conduct an enquiry into certain allegations against the Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) of MKU.

The very next month, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court had ordered the DVAC to probe into irregularities in conducting examinations and the issuance of PSTM certificate by MKU with reference to appointments made by Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) through combined Civil Services Examination, Group-I.

The probe by DVAC Deputy Superintendent of Police, M. Sathyaseelan, into 22 candidates revealed that four of them had submitted their PSTM certificates issued by MKU to TNPSC for their appointments during 2012-2019.

The four Group I officers, who had studied different UG courses like BA Tamil, BA History, and B. Com through DDE of MKU, had not paid the admissions fee at the time of their admission, which is mandatory. Besides, they had also passed all the papers in a single sitting.

The PSTM certificates issued to the four candidates were, therefore, found not to be genuine.

The MKU officials have been accused of falsification of records, and the study circle personnel have been accused of allowing students to sit for examinations for all three years in one sitting and for preparing false mark statements.