White Collar Crimes in Indian

Education Sector
White Collar
Sector
Definition

Crimes

of White

in

Indian

Collar

Education
:
crime

According to Britannica encyclopedia White-collar

crime that is part of a collective and organized
effort to serve the economic interests of a
corporation is known as corporate crime. In some
cases corporate crimes are conducted by bogus
entities that pose as legal corporations or
partnerships. Although corporations cannot be
incarcerated, they can be criminally punished with
fines and other sanctions[1]
According to eminent criminologist Mr. Edwin
Sutherland,who coined the term White collar
crime for the first time in his presidential address
to the American Sociological Association in
1939,and he is of view that white collar crime is
committed by person of respectability and social
standing,
including
engineering,
doctors,educationist,l
awyers,chattered
accountants,Journalist etc.
Ironically,he excluded traditional crimes like
murder, adultery, intoxication from the purview of
white collar crimes.The major cause for the

outbreak of white collar crimes is greed for money

and wealth.
Mr.Peter Goldmann, editor of White Collar Crime
Reporter, a trade publication for lawyers and
investigators, said, "White-collar crime is spinning
through the roof. It's spinning new varieties daily
and the incidence and amounts of money being
stolen are incredible."
Many cases related to white collar crimes are of
recent origin like Tax evasion/foreign exchange
violations of Hasan Ali or corporate crime by
Satyam s Rama Linga Raju.
W. Steve Albrecht, associate dean at the Marriott
School of Management at Brigham Young
University is of view that"People commit fraud
because of three factors: financial pressure, the
perception of an opportunity, and rationalizing it as
O.K. This is the fraud triangle," he said. "All three
of these elements have been increasing. Being at
the down part of an economic cycle exacerbates
the problem, but we were seeing a lot of it in the
good times as well."
There are many allegations against businessmen,
lawyers ,medical practitioners and educational
institutes,who falsify the accounts for the purpose
of tax evasion in the country.Unfortunately such
cases
are
rising
in
the
country.

Many experts in Criminal law and Criminology are

of view that there should be separate courts for
such offences [Economic offences courts do exists
in metropolitan areas]
Mr.N R Narayana Murthy maintained that "elite" are
going unpunished though they commit "huge
crimes" in the country and saw it as "problem with
this society."
Education Sector-White collar crimes :
Prof (Dr) Sanjay Gupta in Times of India
said Education in India is a seller's market today.
Total enrollment
in higher education is 18.6mn,
which is expected to grow to 22mn by 2012.
Requirement on the other hand is growing at -20
% causing a shortfall of 45% in the number of
seats required. Education in India is a seller's
market where a student does not choose the
institute, but an institute chooses the students that
they will admit depending upon whether their
priority lies in merit (as with premium like ITTs,
IIMs, or (AIIMS) or means as is the case with most
privately
owned
ones.
Sensing a huge business opportunity, several
private institutes have come up in the last few
years, thus creating some additional capacity
Ironically, a majority of these are owned by
politicians and generally offer engineering and

management education only. Despite government

regulations, they are run like small business
enterprises with little or no monitoring or
accountability mechanisms in place to ensure the
relevance and quality of education imparted. They
are like factories churning out products that few
want to use. One major reason for the poor quality
of graduates is lack of good teachers in these
organizations. Teachers are the most ignored and
exploited lot. They are hired and fired at will and
not given the respect, space and autonomy which
would encourage them to bring in innovations in
their teaching methodologies.[2]
When the matter comes to the white collar crimes
educational institutions do come in the league to
operate with impunity. A nastier role is played by
the private institutions who are least bothered in
providing the education, but only concentrate of
making business at the cost of the childrens
future. Even rackets operate in these institutions
for procuring students to appear in the
examinations on the basis of manipulated eligibility
certificates, thereby damaging the standard of
education in India. When it comes to the
Governmental institutions, the teachers and staffs
of the institutions are often found to be involved in
unscrupulous practices, since they can hardly
make fortune from the inadequate salary they

receive from the government. Teachers often drag

the students for taking private tuition and even go
to the extent of blackmailing them of ruining their
future, if they deny doing so.[3]
many institutes are functioning without any valid
approvals and permits from regulatory authorities,
operating in the country and abroad, it is
understandable that they are earning huge amount
of money through fraudulently practices and illegal
means.
Recent cases of Fraud in Education Sector:
Scams in Regulatory bodies:
Deemed Universities scam:
The Tandon Committee constituted by the HRD
Ministry to investigate the deemed university scam
has found that of the 130 deemed universities, 44
had abysmal academic and physical infrastructure
and are mainly family fiefdoms. On the
recommendations of the Tandon Committee, the
HRD Ministry derecognised 44 deemed universities.
The case of the de-recognized deemed universities,
having two lakh students on their rolls, is with the
Supreme Court.[4]
AICTE scam:
The CBI has completed its probe in about 200
complaints. The agency found that 42 institutes

were granted illegal approval by the AICTE. In a

glaring case the agency detected that one building
was inspected by the experts appointed by the
AICTE thrice and recommended approval for three
different colleges for the same building. A few
inspection committees did not visit the site of the
proposed colleges but submitted their reports. The
AICTE scam is so large that 17 CBI branches
investigating it.[5]
MCI Bribe scandal
The Medical Council of India[MCI] has also a
dubious record for granting approval to medical
colleges. The MCI President was arrested recently
for accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore. According to
reports, the CBI in its recent raids found that the
former President of the MCI and his family
possessed disproportionate assets worth Rs 24
crore. A good development is that the President of
India has dissolved the MCI and replaced it by a
six-member Board of Governors.[6]
Bar council member arrested for taking bribe
:
Delhi City lawyers were on a collision course with
the CBI after two Supreme Court advocates,
including a member of the Bar Council of India
(BCI), were arrested by the agency on the charge
of taking a bribe for granting affiliation to a
Ghaziabad-based law college[7].

52 A.P Institutes lack approval:

All India council for Technicle Education asked
government of A.P to take action under Indian
Penal Code against 52 institutes functioning
without any approvals. [Reported in Deccan
Chronicle]
Other scams in Education sector
A.Raja tried to influence judge in education
scam:
In his letter to the then CJI Justice.K.G
Balakrishnan , Justice Reghupati of Chennai High
Court had observed that "a counsel, who made an
attempt to exert influence on the court by using
the name of a Cabinet minister, cannot be allowed
to succeed in snatching an order in his favour by
advancing a threat".In an anticipatory bail plea by
S Kirub Shridhar, a third year student in a private
medical college in Puducherry, and his doctorfather Krishnamoorthy.who had been booked by
the CBI for allegedly using the services of a
Pondicherry University official and a middleman to
inflate marks to get a medical seat at the time of
admission.
Education loan scam:
Investigation into the multi-crore fake education
loan racket has revealed that the scamsters
preferred to open bank accounts in nationalized
banks to gain the confidence of their victims. The

cops were stunned to find a large number of bank

accounts of nationalized banks like State Bank of
India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of India
where it is difficult to open an account.
Subsequent investigation revealed that officials of
some bank branches threw the rules and regulation
aside while opening the bank accounts in the name
of the scamsters and their fake companies. The
crime branch had on Friday arrested two men
identified as Abhishek Hasija (24) and his brother
Tanishk Hasija (21) who helped Varun Sardana,
the gang leader, to open bank accounts in various
nationalized banks.[8]
Mass copying by Judicial officers in A.P:
Judicial officers, who supposed to interpret law
and give judgment ,were found copying in LL.M
distance mode [P.G course] exams in Warangal,
K.U university.The High Court of A.P suspended
judicial officers and it also suspended, "rule of
increments for gaining P.G degree for judicial
officers".
Capitation

fees

scam:

The premier agency CBI investigates allegations of

capitation fee demanded by Sri Ramachandra
Medical College & Research Institute.

Sex-for-marks scandal:
The Madhya Pradesh government has ordered an
investigation into the sex-for-marks scandal at the
Rani Durgavati University in Jabalpur. Madhya
Pradesh Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma said
that the state government has formed a committee
to investigate the matter.[9]
Investigations revealed that the Controller of
examinations SH Rana and Kakoria, were involved
in the scam.
Erroneous Admissions in IIT :
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Human
Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said
that according to the Joint Admission Board, 52
candidates in the general category were offered
admission to IIT though they had not qualified in
the test.
"Some candidates who wrote the JEE 2010 were
erroneously offered admission. The inadvertent
error in course allocation pertained to candidates
who had not qualified in the architecture/design
aptitude test, were offered admission," Sibal said
quoting information from the Joint Admission
Board.
TVU ,California:

Tri ValleyUniversity faces charges of fraud and

cheating in the education, most students affected
by the closure of "sham" Tri-Valley University
(TVU) in California, on charges of visa fraud. Some
1,555 TVU students, 90 percent of them from
India, mostly Andhra Pradesh.
Carrick Institute of Education , Melbourne:
A Melbourne-based private institute is on the verge
of financial collapse, threatening future of over
4000 students, including from India.
Conclusion:
The education sector is huge market for private
sector to invest, the state alone can not provide
education to growing population. The private
sector and private-public partnership fills vacuum.
But the issue of concern is lack of standards and
accountability in private sector education. There is
a need to curb corruption in the education sector
to save gullible students from the trap of fake
institutes and universities ,which lacks approvals
and permit from the regulatory bodies and
government. The growing white collar crimes in the
education is issue of concern to the civil society.
There is a need to take corrective steps to rectify
the situation. Ever parent/student should be
whistle blower in unearthing scams in the
education sector and government must ensure

protection to whistle blowers by enacting law on

whistle blower protection.
Starting an institute without approval should
be made penal offence under Indian Penal Code.
2.
Separate courts should be established as
recommended by Prof Yaspal Committee .
3.
There should be free legal aid through Legal
Services Authority to aggrieved students.
4.
All cases related to cheating by Educational
Institutes should be referred to Fast track criminal
courts for speedy trial.
5.
There should uniform regulatory body for
approvals as recommended by Prof. Yaspal
Committee.
6.
Foreign universities admissions should be
streamlined through proper checks/balances to
avoid visa frauds.
7.
Compulsory registration of Agents for foreign
universities.
8.
Necessary action against news paper for
publishing
fake
institute
/fake
university
advertisement by Advertisement council by
amending law.
1.