IEC University:
What Two Inspection Committees Actually Found

Background: why this RTI was filed

When a regulator opens a file titled “153 fake degrees”, the title travels further and faster than the findings. Case numbers get quoted in news reports and forwarded messages; inspection reports, longer and duller and months later, generally do not.

The Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission, HP-PERC, is the statutory body overseeing private universities in that state. In 2023 it registered Suo-Moto Case No. 11 of 2023 — on its own motion, without any complainant — described in its own records as an “Issue regarding 153 fake degrees in the name of IEC University”, a private university at Baddi in District Solan.

This RTI was filed to obtain the underlying material rather than the headline: the status of the case and the findings of the expert committees sent to inspect the student records. The application, dated 26.04.2024, was routed through the PIO-cum-Additional Superintendent of Police, Baddi. The Commission's reply, No. HPPERC/302/RTI Vol-IX/2023-228 of 06.05.2024, released both inspection reports as Annexure-A.

The case, and its status

The Commission's answers are terse. Asked for details of any cases relating to fake degrees, it names one: Suo-Moto Case No. 11 of 2023. Asked for the status of the investigation, it replies in two words: “Pending adjudication”. Asked what action it had taken, it replies that action too was pending.

The fourth answer is the substantial one. Asked for the findings of the expert committee, the Commission did not summarise — it enclosed the reports.

The first committee: September 2023

The first committee was constituted on 13 September 2023 under reference HP-PERC/Case No. 11/2023 3432-3436, chaired by Prof. Mahavir Singh of the Department of Physics, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, with Dr. Ranbir Verma and Waryam Singh Bains of the same university as members.

It reached the campus at 10.30 AM on 15 September 2023 and was received by the Registrar, Er. Vinod Kumar. The Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) Ashok Kumar Puri, was recorded as unavailable owing to an unforeseen emergency.

The committee worked through the documents for all 153 students with the Registrar, the Controllers of Examination and the university accountant. Ten heads of department — management, pharmacy, psychotherapy, law, physics, chemistry, mathematics, journalism, engineering and humanities — were summoned one by one to produce original attendance registers. Each, the report states, “personally confirmed that all 153 students had consistently attended classes”.

The committee did not close the matter. It recommended a thorough investigation for further details and recorded that it had identified a communication gap between HP-PERC and the university.

The second committee: November 2023

A second committee followed, constituted on 16 November 2023 by Office Notification HP-PERC/Case No. 11/2023 3962-3965, comprising Prof. Shyam Lal Kaushal as Chairman and Prof. Kulbhushan Chandel as Member. It inspected on 17 and 18 November 2023.

Its method is set out plainly. All records of attendance, examination and fees for the 153 students were verified on seven parameters: admission forms and supporting documents, fee records, departmental attendance, examination forms, gazettes, university-issued documents and green sheets. The committee noted the university had also submitted these students' details to the Pharmacy Council of India, the Bar Council of India and the HP Paramedical Council — which, in its reading, “shows that University has no any intention to hide the identity and other facts pertaining to these students”.

One discrepancy is recorded. For a single student in the Chemistry list, registration number H15IEC BTCE 019, admitted in the 2015 batch, the attendance record was missing, though the other documents were produced. The report's assessment is that the record “has been lost in the University”.

Having summoned the Vice Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Dean Academic, Controller of Examinations and the IEC Chief Executive Officer, the committee recorded its opinion: “there are no any probable chances of irregularities in admitting these 153 students”. It added two honest caveats — the enquiry was limited to the mandate given by HP-PERC and should not be extended to any other cause of action, and it depended on the records the university submitted under its seal.

Key findings

“The committee is of the opinion that there are no any probable chances of irregularities in admitting these 153 students.”

— Report of the Inspection Committee, HP-PERC, signed 18.11.2023 (Annexure-A)

What employers and students should know

Employers screening an IEC University candidate should not treat the existence of Case No. 11 of 2023 as a reason to reject a degree. The committees sent to examine the records did not find irregularities in the admissions they were asked to examine, and the case was subsequently disposed of — a point covered in the companion record on this site. The proper step remains the ordinary one: verify the specific degree with the university's own examination branch.

Students and graduates of the university have, on this record, no adverse finding against them. A case title is an allegation under examination, not a conclusion. If you are asked about it, the inspection reports and the Commission's final order are the documents to point to.

Anyone repeating the “153 fake degrees” phrase should be careful about where it comes from. It is HP-PERC's description of the issue it registered, in its own case title. It is not a finding that 153 degrees were fake, and the material the Commission released alongside it points the other way.