'University' being branded fake, V.K Goel refused to divulge the number of students
enrolled with them and armed with the names and addresses of 'fake universities'
in city.
Believe it or not, a 'university' is being run from a cramped
20x20-foot room on the second floor of a building at Daryaganj in Old Delhi. The
owner of the establishment claims it offers B.Com courses to students across the
country. Commercial University Ltd, as the place is called, is one of
six 'universities' in the capital that have been branded fake by the University
Grants Commission. The list was released in December 2011 and asked students to
avoid these self-styled universities. Delhi has the second highest number of such
varsities in the list, after Uttar Pradesh which has eight. A narrow staircase,
sandwiched between two commercial establishments, leads to the room.
The second floor has two doors, the left one leading to the 'university'. The room
is split into three by a temporary partition. A man perched on a chair at the entrance
confirms this indeed is the "university". The official claims the varsity offers
its own B.Com degrees to students across the country and is not affiliated to any
institution. Asked about his 'university' being branded fake, its owner, V. K. Goel,
said: "We are a private institute and we have nothing to do with UGC. I will take
it up with UGC to remove our name from the list." Asked what courses the varsity
offers and from where it has got the authority to grant degrees, Goel simply said:
"We give our own B.Com degrees." Describing the university's functioning, Goel said:
"We have students across India and we conduct exams. They send their completed answer
sheets and we evaluate them and grant them degrees." Goel refused to divulge the
number of students enrolled with them.
Armed with the names and addresses of 'fake universities' in the city figuring in
the UGC list, TOI next tried to trace the ADR-Centric Juridical University in Rajendra
Place, New Delhi. The address given is ADR House, 8J, Gopala Tower, 25 Rajendra
Place. But no such university or its office could be located in any of the 10 floors
of the building. The address, 8J Gopala Tower, turned out to be the office of a
plant protection consultant whose officials said they did not know about any university
being run from the premises. Next stop was Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Jagatpuri,
Delhi. Its address too turned out to be fictitious. So did the others-United Nations
University, Delhi, Vocational University, Delhi and Indian Institute of Science
and Engineering, New Delhi.
Courtesy: Times of India
