Minister for Education for Maharashtra state, Vinod Tawde has a degree from an unrecognised university, according to a report in regional channel Mi Marathi.
The minister had said that he holds a BE (Electronics) degree from Sant Dnyaneshwar University, Pune, but the university's website says that it is not affiliated with the UGC or AICTE, the bodies responsible for maintaining the required standards at higher education institutions.
The news comes in the backdrop of the controversy over the education qualifications of HRD Minister Smriti Irani and the fake degree row by Jitender Singh Tomar, which forced him to resign from the post of Delhi Law Minister.
According to information presented to the Election Commission, BJP leader Vinod Tawde completed his engineering in electronics from the Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth in 1984. However, the university is not associated with AICTE or the Directorate of Technical Education, Maharashtra.
The Bombay High court had in a 2005 order, said that Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth does not have any rights to award degrees, and that the degrees issued even before 2005 were invalid, the Mi Marathi report said.
In his statement, Tawde said that his degree was not bogus and that he had never hidden the fact that he had a degree from Sant Dnyaneshwar University. "I have mentioned it in all my election affidavits and I did not cheat anyone. I did not take any benefits that are due to graduates in passport, nor did I register myself as a voter in Graduates' Constituency," Tawde said.
"A bridge course was started at the Vidyapeeth with the objective of imparting practical experience to students along with theoretical knowledge. I took admission to the course in 1980 and passed out in 1984. The course comprised part-time education and part-time internship," Tawde said.
"Everyone is talking about integrating real work experience in the curriculum and my university did that years ago," he said, adding that he was aware in 1980 that the course was not recognised and he was fine with it.
Also Read: Politicians, why do you lie about degrees when law doesn't ask for it?
