A day before Ankiv Baisoya was suspended from ABVP, DU cancelled his admission.
On 14th November 2018, University of Delhi(DU) cancelled the admission of Ankiv Baisoya, former Delhi University Students Union President. The admission was cancelled by the Department of Buddhist Studies where Ankiv was pursuing his master’s degree. The cancellation came a day before Baisoya stepped down from his post and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) suspended him until further enquiry.
The cancellation of Ankiv’s admission proceeded after the University administration received a notification from Thiruvulluvar University, Vellore confirming that Ankiv’s graduate degree was not genuine. It was fake.
A press conference was organised by National Students Union of India(NSUI) and All India Students Association(AISA) on 16th November 2018 in Indian Youth Congress Hall. The conference was attended by former DUSU Presidents along with members of both NSUI and AISA. Akash Chaudhary, Secretary of DUSU along with former NSUI DUSU office bearers and NSUI State President submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor regarding the same. The memorandum states that NSUI demands fresh elections, and the two month period as mentioned in the Lyndogh Committee guidelines would be counted from the day Ankiv’s fake degree was brought in light by NSUI. It also states that the two month period is indicative and not binding on DU.
On talking to Sunny Chillar, who was the NSUI candidate for the post of President in DUSU elections, said, “Everything was pre-planned by ABVP. The admission was cancelled on 14th November in the evening itself. ABVP got to know about this and they wanted to save whatever little they could. So, they asked Ankiv to step down, and also suspended him. ABVP already knew about his fake degree, they still took two months to verify the same. Since the graduation degree is fake, he cannot be admitted for post graduation degree and definitely cannot stand for DUSU elections. This also means that his post stands void now.”
Sunny also mentioned that NSUI is pressing the second in line for the post of President in DUSU elections to be made the new DUSU President. The semester exams are over the head and elections take a lot of time. It is also to be kept in mind that the University spends a lot of money in conducting the elections. The court has already issued a no objection and has said that re-election process doesn’t matter because of the delay. NSUI is waiting for the final order of the High Court to be declared on 20th November 2018.
DU Beat spoke to IN Singh, Professor of Department of Buddhist Studies. He said, “The matter has not been discussed with the Course Committee. There wasn’t any committee set up. It is mandatory for the Head of the Department to discuss the matter with the whole department. He is the representative of the Department. The cancellation of admission was discussed with the Admission Committee who cannot take action in this matter. Only the University can cancel the admission of any candidate.”
KTS Sarao, HOD of the Department of Buddhist Studies informed DU Beat that there is a certain procedure followed for cancellation of admission. There is an Admission Committee which consists of five teachers of the department. The HOD is the chairperson of the committee. Sarao further added that,” Akshay Kumar’s( National Secretary of NSUI) fake degree case was discovered in February this year. It has been nine months, the case is still pending. This is because there has to be a meeting to discuss the matter. However, there are a few teachers who are sympathetic to NSUI and keep holding the meeting.” On talking about the cancellation of Ankiv Baisoya’s admission, Sarao informed, “In the case of MA studies, a Department Admission Committee looks after the admission and cancellation of admission to the department. When I discovered Ankiv’s fake degree issue, I immediately sent the relevant documents with relevant photocopies to the Registrar of Thiruvulluvar University to verify the fake degree. However, despite repeated reminders, I got no reply. The website was also not updated. When the media contacted the University directly, they updated the website with proper contact details. I went many e-mails and in fact I messaged the Controller of Examination personally to look into the matter. Later on, I was asked to pay INR 500 to get his degree verified. I found it strange since it was an official process from one government university to another government university. However, I transferred the amount to the University on 25th October 2018 with the covering letter and proper documents. There was still no reply from their side. Whenever I would call, they would not pick my calls or would speak in their regional language. After three weeks, I received the report from Thiruvalluvar University late in the evening on 13th November 2018 stating that Baisoya’s degree was fake. I called for an immediate meeting of the department on 14th November 2018, and Baisoya’s admission was cancelled. His degree was declared fake and not genuine.”
KTS Sarao has also sent the copies of the documents to the Registrar of the University of Delhi and the SHO of Delhi Police.
Monika Chaudhary, National Media Convenor of ABVP also commented on the issue. She said, “Ankiv is no more a member of the party and ABVP has no power to take any legal action in the matter. We do believe that a fraud has been committed and he should be held accountable for that.” On asking why Baisoya’s documents were not verified when he stood for the post of President in the elections, she added, “ABVP follows a verification system. We verified Ankiv’s present documents. He was admitted to the Department of Buddhist Studies at that time. We could not foresee that such a mistake of not verifying his graduation degree could be done by the DU administration.”
Monika also mentioned that according to the DUSU Constitution and the Lyndogh Committee guidelines, if the seat of the President falls vacant, then the Vice President officiates. She said, “Most probably Shakti Singh will officiate the processes now. Re-election is not possible, and in electoral politics, no runner-up is promoted to the post of President.”
DU Beat tried contacting Ankiv Baisoya but he was unavailable to comment.
Feature Image Credits: The Print
Anoushka Sharma
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