TN minister parading ‘fake’ degree sparks row

The country’s ministers seem to have taken a fancy to embellishing educational qualifications on their official profiles.

A Class VI failure by his own admission, Tamil Nadu’s minister for Information and Technology, Mukkur N. Subramanian, recently found himself at the centre of a storm when it was revealed that his profile on the government website referred to him as a bona fide graduate.

diploma fraud

The discrepancy was brought to the fore by the minister’s detractors within his party, the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK.

While it is a known fact that he enrolled at Tamil Nadu Open University for a BA in Political Science in 2009, Subramanian failed to prove if he had indeed pursued the programme to its logical conclusion and had to consequently correct his profile on the website.

The portal now states that the minister is pursuing his BA. The university does not need one to pass 10+ 2 for a graduate degree.

Subramanian, a former district secretary of the AIADMK, was a largely obscure leader until he was nominated for a Lok Sabha seat from Arani in 2009. In the affidavit filed then, he had stated that he had failed Class VI.

Subsequently, two years into his course at the university, in the papers filed for the 2011 assembly polls, which he won, he stated his educational qualification as BA II year.

But even as sources close to the minister maintained that he had pursued BA at the university, they failed to produce any proof to verify he had acquired the degree.

Incidentally, the report comes barely days after it was found that Railway Minister Mukul Roy and his fellow Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh had stated divergent information in their Election Commission affidavits and Rajya Sabha profiles.

Subramanian, though, is known to gloss over crucial information in his official documents.

Between 1986 and 1993, as many as five cases were registered against the minister, a fact he withheld in his affidavits for the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 assembly polls.

He went on to earn quite a few detractors when he was given the charge of the crucial IT ministry. Multiple requests have reportedly been sent to chief minister Jayalalithaa, demanding that Subramanian be sacked, ever since the discrepancy in his educational profile was discovered.

Now, sources say, the minister may lose his berth in the state cabinet reshuffle expected to take place any day now.

Source : msn