MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently granted DVAC an additional two months to complete its investigation into the issuance of fake PSTM certificates by various universities to candidates for securing Group I posts in Tamil Nadu.
A bench comprising justices P Velmurugan and B Pugalendhi granted the time while hearing a contempt petition filed by G Sakthi Rao of Madurai over TNPSC’s non-compliance of a judgment that only candidates who studied their entire education in Tamil medium should get PSTM reservation.
The judgment dated March 22, 2021, was passed in a petition filed by Rao alleging irregularities in appointments made by TNPSC under PSTM reservation in Group I posts. In the judgment, the court had noted that the majority of candidates who were appointed under PSTM category had studied in English medium and later obtained degrees in Tamil medium through distance education just to avail the PSTM reservation.
Since DVAC was probing fake certificate scam in MKU, the court had instructed the Director of DVAC to constitute a special team headed by a DSP-level officer to probe into the problem of fake certificates, including PSTM certificates, issued by MKU and other universities and file periodical status reports.
However, even after three years, the DVAC is yet to complete its investigation citing non-cooperation from the universities. Following the court’s warning in June, all universities except Annamalai University, Chidambaram, extended their cooperation, based on which DVAC submitted a report recently stating that out of 34 candidates who had secured Group I posts through PSTM quota, the credentials of 13 candidates have been found to be genuine.
Four candidates from Madurai Kamaraj University were found to have obtained fake PSTM certificates. One candidate from Periyar university who studied under Tamil medium has joined service without obtaining PSTM certificate. The remaining 16 candidates from Annamalai University are yet to be investigated, DVAC claimed in its report.
The matter was adjourned to the first week of January.