Bengaluru: As many as 249 guest lecturers submitted fake PhD certificates to get jobs in govt colleges, department of collegiate and technical education said.
It has now barred these guest lecturers from participating in the selection process for guest faculty appointments in all subsequent academic years. The department has also directed criminal cases be registered against them.
In 2025-26, there were complaints made to Lokayukta on fake PhD certificates submitted to the department. Following this, the department released a standard operating procedure for document verification.
As part of the verification process, principals were directed to obtain authenticity reports from the concerned universities and institutions for the postgraduate degree marksheets, NET, SLET, K-SET, PhD, MPhil, disability and Kalyana Karnataka certificates submitted by guest lecturers.
If the certificates were found to be fake, college principals were to release the lecturers and report the case. In case guest lecturers challenged the findings, the cases were referred to the department headquarters. Departmental review committees examined such cases and submitted their findings. Based on these reports, the department has now identified guest lecturers who submitted fake or invalid PhD certificates.
Of the 249 fake PhDs, 153 are from Kalaburagi, 24 from Bengaluru, 22 from Mysuru, 17 in Shivamogga, 2 in Mangaluru and 31 in Dharwad. As many as 20 fake PhDs were found in Shahpur govt degree college in Yadgir, 19 in Bidar first-grade college, 13 in Gulbarga women’s college and 7 in Koppal Women’s college.
Police complaints and details of the action taken are to be reported to the commissioner’s office within a week.
