Maharashtra’s high-profile Education Minister Vinod Tawde is in for trouble following revelations in regional channel, Mi Marathi, which claimed that the engineering degree that he has is from an unrecognised university.
A senior BJP leader, Tawde is Minister for School Education and Sports, Higher and Technical Education, Medical Education, Marathi Language and Cultural Affairs.
The development comes in wake of a fake degree issue involving Delhi's former law minister Jitender Singh Tomar.
Tawde, according to an affidavit filed with the Election Commission, holds a BE (Electronics) degree from Pune-based Sant Dnyaneshwar University, which is not affiliated with UGC or AICTE or Maharashtra's Directorate of Technical Education.
HC order
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.
Speaking to reporters, Tawde said he takes pride in having studied from 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.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam demanded his resignation. “The university from which he obtained degree is fake, the degree that he has is fake...he must immediately resign,” he said.