COIMBATORE: Education Department officials are investigating an alleged fake Transfer Certificate (TC) racket, which came to light after an anonymous letter with 10 fake TCs attached to it was found in the complaint box of a popular TV channel’s office in Coimbatore.
The TCs, along with the letter, were later handed over to Chief Educational Officer A Gnanagowri on Tuesday. Preliminary investigation by the School Education Department officials revealed that the certificates were issued under the name of schools that were closed or never existed.
While three of the certificates were issued to candidates as having completed class VIII from Kalaimagal School in Ettimadai, the remaining seven certified that the candidates had completed class IX from Saraswathy Vidyalaya Matriculation HSS, Dharapuram, in Tirupur district. While Kalaimagal School was declared ‘unrecognised’ in 2003, the year of leaving was mentioned as 2005-06 in the certificates. Similarly, no school existed by the name ‘Saraswathy Vidyalaya’ in Tirupur. The Chief Education Officer took up the issue to the District Collector, who directed her to file a criminal complaint in the matter. Inquiry with the then correspondent of Kalaimagal School revealed that the school authorities had never issued these TCs, which seemed to have been printed recently.
“Efforts are being made to identify the candidates to whom the certificates have been issued, by verifying the details with the Regional Transport Offices. Since a minimum qualification for obtaining a driving licence is Class 8, these fake certificates could have been prepared to meet that requirement. By verifying the list of recently acquired licences with the RTOs, the recipients of these certificates can be traced,” the CEO said.