The only government arts and science college in Kerala — Maharaja’s College has embroiled itself in controversy with allegations of fraud and marks fudging. The New Indian Express reports that this comes just a day after the college received bouquets for performing very well in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023. Furthermore, the report interestingly states, that the protagonist in both incidents is connected.
The issue of PM Arsho
PM Arsho, the first protagonist and State Secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), was charged for allegedly falsifying marks with the assistance of the college administration. Arsho, who didn't appear for the third-semester exam, was discovered to have passed the Archaeology course when the final results were announced. The SFI leader, however, had missed the test because he was detained at the time.
Arsho was detained for attempting to kill a lawyer under various sections. Additionally, he is accused of more than 40 criminal offences, including assaulting a student.
However, principal VS Joy claims that the error came in as a result of a software problem. "The National Informatics Centre's (NIC) software was unable to identify the entry marked as absent. Hence, it automatically considered the student as having cleared the examination. We notified the same with the NIC officials as soon as the error was realised. The mark list has been updated," said the principal who added that the mark list was a temporary one issued for the students' perusal.
The issue of the fake guest lecturer
In addition to Arsho’s case, the college had to tackle the issue of a fake guest lecturer. The lecturer, who was a former student from the Malayalam Department of the college, allegedly used fake certificates to bag the job.
According to The New Indian Express sources said, "The 'guest lecturer' got busted when she submitted the fake experience certificate to support her candidature for the guest lecturer post at Attapadi Government College.” When the principal, who had previously worked at Maharaja's College, examined the paperwork after the interview process ended in a tie between two shortlisted candidates, the fraud was discovered, the sources added.
Before applying for the guest lecturer post at the Attapadi Government College, the 'guest lecturer' had worked at two other government colleges. "She would never have been caught if the tie hadn't happened," said the sources. It is also alleged that both Arsho and the 'guest lecturer' have been in a relationship since their time in the college. "She was SFI's PG representative and had been in close relation with Arsho," said sources.
At the same time, the college has registered a complaint with the Central Police Station. "We filed a complaint as soon as we came to know of the incident," said VS Joy.
