HC upholds CID probe into PhD scam

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday upheld the need to continue the ongoing CID probe into the PhD scam in Draividian university at Kuppam of Chittoor district.
The bench of acting chief justice Dilip B Bhosale and justice P Naveen Rao refused to entertain a plea by J Prasad Babu and 14 other students who questioned the CID probe. In fact the bench underlined the need for eliminating racketeers from the education sector."These racketeers are playing havoc with the lives of genuine students", the bench said. Sensing the mood of the bench, the counsel for the students sought permission from the court to withdraw their plea.
The Dravidian university in Kuppam had enrolled 8,000 PhD and MPhil candidates through distance education mode and had even awarded degrees to some of them in 2008 and 2009.
Earlier, the AP state appointed a two-member committee to probe into the issue. The committee confirmed the commission of large-scale irregularities in the PhD enrolments and recommended the cancellation of all such awards and even the enrolments.
Upon a challenge to the probe, a single judge of the high court brushed aside the claims and fears of the students and said the state is duty bound to maintain the prestige of its universities and their degrees.
He, however, directed the CID officials not to disturb the genuine students in the name of investigation.
The students filed an appeal against the single judge order and the division bench too found no infirmities in the order of the single judge.