Fake admission row hits Stephen's

27 Jul 2008, 0219 hrs IST,TNN
NEW DELHI: The Christian quota at St Stephen's College is in the eye of a storm again. The college is now investigating the documents submitted by a student who got admission under the Christian quota but whose documents don't bear out the proof. Interestingly, the matter only came to light after an RTI was filed on July 9 asking for information on the number of Christians who had been admitted this year under the quota. Said a senior teacher of the college, "Though the college has three levels of scrutiny for every application, this student's documents seemed to have been missed by everyone. It's only after the RTI was filed that the mistake was discovered." The student, a girl from UP who had enrolled for BA programme, had apparently submitted her baptimism certificate but not the confirmation certificate, which is issued by the Bishop of the Diocese. The college requires not only the baptimism but also the confirmation certificate, a fact that seems to have been overlooked by the pro tem administrator - who scrutinised the Christian applications separately, the non-teaching staff - who went through the relevant documents before calling the candidate for interview, and even the interview board chaired by the pro tem - which was supposed to ask the candidate to produce all documents if admission is required. Pro tem administrator, M S Frank, admitted that an enquiry into the case had been set up. "It now appears that the girl, who was given a seat reserved for Christian candidates, may not be a Christian," said Frank. When asked who had filed the RTI which led to discovery of the fake certificates, Frank said, "It's not pertinent to know who sent the RTI query. What is more important is bringing out the truth." Sources in the college added that the mistake was found out as the girl had claimed to be from the Church of North India (CNI), a category from which there were few applications. "This year, the supreme council decided to set aside a separate quota for candidates from CNI late into the admission process. Since all Christian candidates who got above 60% were being called, this girl, being from CNI, could easily get admission with a 66.5%," added the source. However, once the RTI was filed, the college went through her documents once again and it was found that her confirmation certificate was missing. When the college authorities contacted the girl to know about the missing document, her parents reportedly told them that the certificate was lost. They later provided the required certificate to the pro tem administrator. But certain discrepancies were found in the certificate after it was scrutinised, say sources. Meanwhile, spokesperson of the college, Sunil Mathews, refused to comment on the issue.