Cuttack: The controversy over securing appointment as secretary of a primary agriculture co-operative society in Balangir district on the basis of a fake MBA degree certificate has reached Orissa High Court.
The district authorities had invited applications for the post of secretary of Ghuna Primary Agriculture Co-Operative Society on March 6, 2016, and had subsequently selected a candidate, Rashmi Ranjan Behera, on the basis of his MBA qualification.
But a controversy sparked off when an applicant for the post - Bishnulala Mahananda - raised before the district authorities of the cooperative department on June 9, 2016, an allegation that the appointment to Behera was given on the basis of a fake certificate.
When there was no tangible outcome on the complaint, Mahananda sought direction of the high court for an inquiry by the CID-Crime Branch. The matter was taken up on Friday.
"After a preliminary hearing, the single judge bench of Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad posted the matter to after the summer vacation for hearing along with reply of the state cooperative department," said petitioner counsel Sankar Prasad Pani.
After summer vacation, which starts on May 21, the high court will reopen on June 16.
"The court, accordingly issued notices to the secretary of state co-operative department and the registrar of co-operative societies," Pani said.
"The court also sought response from the registrar of Acharya Nagarjuna University in Andhra Pradesh on whether the MBA degree certificate of their university that Behera had produced was valid or not," he said.
According to the petition, Behera had allegedly submitted a forged MBA certificate purportedly issued by Acharya Nagarjuna University. The allegation was made on the basis of information assessed about the appointment through RTI.
Acting on the complaint, the deputy registrar of cooperative societies, Balangir, had conducted an inquiry on March 6, 2017. But, the outcome is not known and no action had been taken against the "illegal appointment".
The petition sought the Court's direction to the authorities to submit inquiry proceeding document and direct an inquiry if necessary.
