AAP slams Centre over FDDI degree scam

New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday attacked the central government for playing with the future of thousand of students of the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) and demanded a probe into the alleged degree scam.

"The FDDI and the Mewar University of Rajasthan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in July 2012 to provide diploma/degree courses to the students by closing the regular courses," AAP leader Raghav Chadha told reporters here.

"The FDDI signed the MoU without following any legal procedures," he said. "But the RTI (Right to Information) responses received from the UGC (University Grants Commission) clearly said that the Mewar University cannot issue degrees to the students of the FDDI."

According to the AAP leader, the RTI queries were filed by the students of the institutes.

The FDDI, which comes under the Ministry of Finance, has over 12 branches across the country and is one of the premier institutes in the leather industry.

The MoU between the FDDI and the Mewar University was signed in July 2012 for two years, which was again renewed in 2014 for two to three more years, the AAP leader alleged.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence on the issue, Chadha said: "Modi promised skill development, but the central government institution which comes under the Ministry of Finance illegally signed an MoU with a private university whose degrees were declared invalid by the UGC."

"Even the UGC informed the government about the MoU between the Mewar University and FDDI as invalid when Modi came to power in 2014 but no action was taken," the AAP leader accused.

"Why the government didn't order any probe? Which kind of educational policy Modi talks about," Chadha asked.

The AAP leader also said that the students of the institute even wrote to the Prime Minister, Minister of Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah but none of them responded to the letters sent to them.

The AAP leader also said that the owner of the Mewar University, A.K. Gadiya, has links with the BJP and Congress leaders and thus no actions were taken against him. "Gadiya was also in jail for his involvement in the scholarship scam in Rajasthan," Chadha added.

The AAP leader demanded a fair probe from the Central government into the alleged degree scam.

He also said that the government should provide proper degree to over 3,500 students of the FDDI who got enrolled into the institute since 2012.