New Delhi, June 9: A student who got a bachelor’s degree in commerce from a Sikkim-based university has demanded a refund of the money he paid for the correspondence course.

Amitesh (name changed on request) says he was awarded 73 per cent without appearing for a single paper.

The student, who has filed a complaint with Delhi police, shared his story with The Telegraph, alleging that the university, which also has a campus in Calcutta, collaborated with the Delhi-based SCARLETT Institute of International Management to offer distance-learning programmes without following minimum standards.

A retired professor said such practices were rampant at private universities. Such degrees, he joked, can be called “counter degrees” — or those that could be bought from across counters.

“Degrees are available at certain counters and students pay fees and collect them,” said Birendra Nayak, who taught mathematics at Utkal University.

An official of the human resource development ministry said the department had recently identified 38 private universities that were offering courses through distance learning without permission from regulatory bodies.

“We have asked the University Grants Commission to come up with regulations to check malpractices in distant education programmes offered by private and deemed universities,” the official added.

Amitesh had applied for the BCom programme from EIILM University through SCARLETT Institute last year. He was asked to pay Rs 30,000. Since the three-year course had been condensed to a year, the institute, he said, told him he needed to appear for exams at one go.

The student paid the course fee in instalments but did not receive any communication from the institute about the exam dates. Every time he enquired, he said, the institute would tell him the dates had been rescheduled.

After the institute released the dates, Amitesh was told the exams would be held on the SCARLETT campus in Delhi in September 2012. He said the institute then sent him a copy of the answers of the questions that would be set.

When Amitesh turned up at the exam centre, he was told he did not need to take the test as someone had already appeared for him. “I was shocked. I asked for the fees to be refunded,” he said. After a few days, the institute said the results had come out. Amitesh received his mark sheet by email. He had scored 73 per cent in the 14-paper exam.

“After I got the mark sheet I was convinced it was a fraud happening. I continued to demand refund of my fees. Then they started threatening me,” Amitesh said.

In his complaint, Amitesh alleged that SCARLETT Institute approached people who had dropped out and offered them degrees in return for money.

An email to EIILM University, set up as a private university by an act passed by the Sikkim Assembly in 2006, failed to elicit a response. Despite repeated attempts, this newspaper could not get in touch with the varsity’s registrar, Col. (Retired) Alok Bhandari. Nor could SCARLETT’s administrator, Vinod Chauhan, be reached.

Sources said Sikkim police had filed a separate case of fraud against EIILM University authorities after complaints from another student. The student had been issued a degree for a course the university does not offer.