A special court in Delhi has issued summons to TMC MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, directing him to appear before the court before 25th July 2019 in a case related to the fake degree. The case was filed by a Supreme Court advocate Sarthak Chaturvedi against the TMC MP from Diamond Harbour in West Bengal.
Delhi: A Special Court summons Abhishek Banerjee, TMC MP and nephew of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, in a fake degree case. The case was filed by Supreme Court Advocate Sarthak Chaturvedi. The court has asked him to appear before them on 25th July. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/5dcrMmR3UJ
— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2019
According to the petitioner Sarthak Chaturvedi, the Abhishek Banerjee had furnished wrong details about his educational qualifications in the affidavit submitted by him during elections. Sarthak has alleged that in 2014 elections, Banerjee has submitted in the affidavit that he has completed his MBA degree from a particular university which is not recognised.
According to the affidavits submitted by Banerjee during 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he obtained an MBA degree from Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) in the year 2009. The 2019 affidavit additionally mentions “as per affiliation degree received from I.M.I., Belgium”.
It may be noted that the notorious institute IIPM was never accredited by UGC or AICTE, and in a landmark judgement in 2014, the Delhi High Court had categorically asked IIPM to stop offering any undergraduate or postgraduate degree, and also to not use words like BBA and MBA in its advertisements as it was not authorised to issue such degrees. The Court had also ordered the institute promoted by Arindam Chaudhuri to prominently display on its website that they are not recognized by any statutory body/authority.
IIPM had said that its degrees are from International Management Institute (IMI) in Belgium, but during investigations, it was found that IMI was set up by Chaudhuri himself and his father Malay Chaudhuri, and it was not even recognized by the laws of Belgium.
In 2015 IIPM had announced that it is closing down all its educational institutes across the country. When IIPM was operating, both UGC and AICTE had issued numerous notices warning the student community that it was not recognised by them. A notice issued by UGC last year reiterates that IIPM is not a University as per laws and it is not allowed to offer any degree including BBA, MBA and MCA.
As Banerjee’s affidavits mention that he has an MBA degree from IIPM, it is clearly an unrecognised degree according to courts and statutory organisations.
In a separate case, Abhishek Banerjee’s wife is accused of carrying 2 kg gold at Kolkata airport while returning from Thailand, which she had not declared. She even allegedly opposed and refused to allow their baggage to be searched. Purportedly, West Bengal police had intervened in the matter and prevented the customs authorities to take further actions on the instructions of Abhishek Banerjee. The Calcutta HC asked his wife to appear before the authorities. Refuting the allegations, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee asserted that he would quit politics if any of the charges against her are proved.
