Chennai: Madras high court has quashed a criminal case registered against Anna University‘s affiliation director V R Giridev by DVAC in connection with the ghost faculty issue. About 2,000 fake faculty appointments were made by affiliate colleges in 2024-25 for securing affiliation with the university.Allowing a plea moved by Giridev, who has been arrayed as A6 in the case, Justice R Nirmal Kumar observed that it is undisputed that the petitioner assumed office of director of Centre for Affiliation of Institutions (CAI) on May 10, 2024. The present case proceeds primarily on the irregularity committed during the academic year 2023-24. The order of affiliation for all colleges was issued last on July 31, 2023, and the petitioner assumed office 10 months after that. Two months after the petitioner assumed office, he came across media reports on granting affiliation for the academic year 2023-24, with the allegation that full-time teaching faculty members were shown on the rolls in more than one affiliated college at the same time. The petitioner, as director of CAI, implemented aadhaar-based biometric authentication of faculty members to eliminate the possibility of impersonation or duplication, the court pointed out. “The petitioner pointed out earlier regarding duplication of faculty members in the academic year 2023-24, was repeated for the subsequent academic year 2024-25. The University Syndicate appreciated the office of CAI in identifying and closing the loopholes in the affiliation. The new software strengthened the integrity and affiliation framework,” the court said. In view of the above, this court finds that no case is made against the petitioner warranting any investigation, and continuation of investigation would amount to abuse of process of law, the judge said.
