4 AU professors, ex-AICTE official chargesheeted

VISAKHAPATNAM: The anti-corruption wing of the CBI on Tuesday filed chargesheets in a special court against seven private individuals, four pharmacy professors of Andhra University and one former senior official of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for conspiring to get approvals to run pharmacy colleges by submitting fake, forged documents without proper infrastructure to offer courses.The CBI, which registered a case in 2010, found that VA Siddiqui and IH Farooqui, president and secretary and correspondent of M/s Mohammad Vaziruddin Educational Society respectively conspired with professors of Andhra University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr A Annapoorna and Dr J Vijay Ratna for obtaining affiliation with the varsity to run Al-Ameer College of Engineering and Pharmacy, which helped them obtain approval from the AICTE.The CBI found that the institutes did not have the required infrastructure as per AICTE and Pharmacy Council of India norms. Cases were also booked against Al-Ameer College principal Dr R Bhavani Devi and professor A Ravi Kumar and the then sarpanch of Palavalasa, P Appala Narayana.In another case, registered in 2010, CBI found that the AICTE officials, in connivance  with the chairman of M/s Vizag Social Profiles Organisation, granted permission for establishing Visakha Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, though the documents submitted by the applicant were forged. They did not have the required facilities as per norms for establishing the college. The premises of the proposed college was a rented one and the building was constructed on a plot of 412.5 sq. metres only, though as per AICTE norms,  2 acres of land was required for running such institutes. Cases under Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 were booked against the then regional officer, southern regional office, AICTE, Chennai, B K Bhadri, the then AU professors of Andhra University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, JVLN Seshagiri Rao, D Gowri Shankar, chairman T Surya Bhaskar Reddy, and Betala Sekhar of M/s Vizag Social Profiles Organisation.