Delhi blasts: NAAC issues show cause notice to Al Falah University over false accreditation claims

Bengaluru, Nov 13 The Bengaluru-based National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) issued a show cause notice to the Al-Falah School of Engineering and Technology, Fatehpur in Haryana on Thursday for falsely claiming and publicising that the colleges run by the University are NAAC accredited.

Al-Falah University, a private institution located about 27 km from the Haryana-Delhi border, on Raga Road, District Faridabad, Dhauj, has come under national spotlight over the past few days owing to shocking developments that include a massive recovery of explosives and the blast near the iconic Red Fort in Delhi that left 12 people dead, dozens injured and shook the nation.

Questioning the violations, Prof. Ganesan Kannabiran, Director of the NAAC has issued the notice to the Registrar of the Al Falah University and asked the management why should the University not be disqualified for future consideration for Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) by NAAC?

The Al-Falah University has also been directed to remove NAAC accreditation details from its website. It has also been asked to remove any other publicly available and distributed documents and report back to NAAC that the above is complied with.

The University has been asked to respond within 7 days from the receipt of the show cause notice.

Prof. Ganesan Kannabiran stated in the notice that, "It is brought to your notice that Al-Falah School of Engineering and Technology, Fatehpur. Raga Road, District Faridabad, Dhauj, Haryana is Cycle-1 accredited by NAAC with Grade 'A' with CGPA 3.08 out of 4.00 from March 23, 2013 to March 22, 2018.

"Department of Teacher Education, Al-Falah School of Education and Training, Fatehpur Raga Road, District Faridabad, Dhauj-121004, Haryana is Cycle-1 accredited by NAAC with Grade 'A' with CGPA 3.16 out of 4.00 from 27 March 2011 to 26th March 2016. Both of the above Colleges accreditation status has expired.

"Both of the above Colleges have not yet volunteered for the Cycle-2 Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) process of NAAC."

The notice further states, "It is brought to the notice of NAAC that the Al-Falah University neither accredited nor volunteered for Cycle-1 for Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) has publicly displayed on their website that "Al-Falah University is an endeavour of Al-Falah Charitable Trust, which has been running three colleges on the campus, namely Al Falah School of Engineering and Technology (since 1997, Graded A by NAAC), Brown Hill College of Engineering and Technology (since 2008), and Al-Falah School of Education and Training (since 2006, Graded A by NAAC)," which is absolutely wrong and misleading the public, especially the parents, students and stakeholders.

"Based on the above, the Executive Committee (EC) of NAAC has decided to issue a show cause notice. Therefore, I herewith issue a show cause notice regarding the following: Why action deemed appropriate including legal should not be initiated against the Al- Falah University."

"Why should the University not be disqualified for future consideration for Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) by NAAC? Why should the NAAC not recommend to the UGC to withdraw the Al-Falah University's recognition under section 2(f) and 12B of UGC? Why should the NAAC not recommend to the NMC to withdraw the NMC recognition for Al-Falah University's NMC recognized programmes? Why should the NAAC not recommend to the NCTE to withdraw the NCTE recognition for Al-Falah University's NCTE recognized programmes?" the notice questioned the Al-Falah management.

The notice said, "Why should the NAAC not recommend to the State Government (Government of Haryana) to initiate action deemed appropriate against the Al-Falah University? Why should the NAAC not recommend to the AICTE to withdraw the AICTE recognition for Al-Falah University's AICTE recognized programmes?"

"In the meantime, you are required to remove the NAAC accreditation details from your website and any other publicly available / distributed documents and report back to NAAC that the above is complied with. The University may respond within 7 days from the receipt of this show cause notice in this regard," the notice stated.

It can be noted that in the past few days, police teams have made multiple visits to the Al-Falah University campus in Dhauj, Faridabad, questioning as many as 52 doctors as part of their investigation. Authorities are trying to gather details about Dr. Muzammil Shakeel, Dr. Shaheen Shahid, and Dr. Umar Mohammed — the trio suspected of operating a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror module.

According to investigators, the group had stockpiled a large quantity of explosives and was allegedly plotting major attacks in Delhi. The same module is also believed to have links to the recent car explosion in Old Delhi.

The university has maintained that allegations are misleading and denied charges stating that they are "false and defamatory."

The management has said the university has no connection with the suspects apart from their professional link with the institution. The university's statement has also said there is no suspicious chemical on the university premises, contrary to what some reports suggested.

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