Rayareddi has smaller role in marks card scam says NSUI

 The Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) on Wednesday clarified that Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi had little role to play in a 'marks card scam', a day after blaming him for supporting it.

The ruling Congress was left red-faced after the NSUI submitted a petition to AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal on Tuesday about a 'marks card scam' accusing Rayareddi of supporting it.

The student body had accused the Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) of violating rules to "unduly favour" to a private vendor in Mumbai for purchase of marks cards and degree certificates, a decision NSUI said Rayareddi approved.

"If the minister had a 10% role to play in this, officials have 90%," NSUI Karnataka president Manjunatha H S clarified. "We wanted to highlight the difficulty students are facing, since there are lots of fake certificates being generated. Officials and vice-chancellors of universities have colluded. It was done without the minister's knowledge," he said.

Strangely, Manjunatha said the government was not involved in the decision to award the tender to MSIL for purchase and printing of marks cards.

The petition submitted to the party leadership, however, stated that the scam was supported by the Higher Education Minister's office and "the present minister". The petition also said the previous minister (RV Deshpande) had rejected the idea in January 2016, whereas "the present minister has forcefully did it."

"The actual market rate of such quality of marks cards and certificates is between Rs 8-12 each, whereas MSIL is charging Rs 36.50 plus taxes. The actual market rate for printing is Rs 4 per marks card, whereas MSIL is charging Rs 35 plus taxes," the petition states, adding that it was creating difficulty for students. The NSUI has sought Venugopal's intervention to set things right.