Academic appointments at NDA under CBI scanner
Pune, June 6: The CBI has registered a case against the Principal of Pune-based National Defence Academy (NDA) and four other employees of the institute, including a professor, on charges of irregularities in the appointment of teaching faculty to the organisation's different posts, the agency said on Wednesday.
Separate Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) teams on Wednesday conducted raids at multiple locations, including residences and official premises of the accused persons, in Maharashtra's Pune.
Besides NDA's Principal Omprakash Shukla, Jagmohan Meher - a Political Science professor, Vanita Puri - an associate professor of Chemistry, Rajiv Bansal - an associate professor, Maheshwar Roy - the Head of Department of Chemistry and other unidentified persons of the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) and IDS (Integrated Defence Staff, which comes under Ministry of Defence) have been named in the CBI FIR.
The FIR was lodged on Tuesday following a complaint of malpractices in the recruitment process of teaching faculty in the academy.
"We registered the FIR based on a complaint about irregularities in the selection/ appointment to different posts of teaching faculty in NDA," a CBI official said in Delhi.
The CBI FIR alleged that that certain faculties of the NDA entered into a conspiracy with unknown officials of the UPSC and the IDS.
"They got selected and appointed to different posts of teaching faculty in NDA without possessing teaching/ research experience as prescribed by the UPSC and as required by Ministry of Defence on the basis of the forged and false certificates," a CBI official said.
The CBI alleged that Shukla has been the Principal of the institute since 2011. "The alleged corruption in appointments started way back in 2007, when he applied for the post of professor," the official said.
"These teachers were involved in fudging the API (Academic Performance Indicators) of candidates who were not qualified to be professors at the institute," he said.
According to the CBI, the appointment of civilian academic officers, including the Principal, Vice Principal, professors and assistant professors at the NDA, is done through the UPSC.
The UPSC publishes an advertisement inviting applications in which qualification criteria are listed. Two important criteria are API points and academic experience.
At least 15 such appointments have been made since 2007, sources said.
Meanwhile, a NDA spokesperson said: "NDA was apprised of the allegations by the CBI team on their arrival this morning. They had with them relevant documents authorising the procedure for necessary investigation."
"It is clarified that the issue related to allegations of submission of inappropriate documentations by some academic faculty members at the time of their selection and appointment to NDA by the UPSC. Necessary actions are at hand and due procedures will be followed," he added.
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Fire breaks out at Nature Bazaar in south Delhi, around 50 shops gutted
New Delhi (PTI): A major fire broke out at Nature Bazaar in south Delhi's Andheria Mor area on Sunday morning, gutting around 50 shops and triggering a massive firefighting operation, an official of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said.
According to the DFS, a call regarding the blaze was received at 7.37 am, following which 10 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to control the flames. No injury to anyone has been reported so far.
The fire erupted at the Nature Bazaar market located near Andheria Mor in the Lado Sarai area, where several temporary and semi-permanent shops selling handicrafts and other items are set up, he said.
Thick plumes of smoke were seen billowing from the market complex as the fire rapidly spread through multiple shops in the crowded marketplace.
Firefighters launched an extensive operation to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading further.
Around 50 shops were gutted in the incident, causing heavy damage to goods and structures, the officer said.
Fire personnel were continuing efforts to completely douse the flames and carry out cooling operations in the area. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
Police officers also reached the spot to assist in crowd management and facilitate firefighting operations.
