GU students submit forged letter at JNPT
JNPT asks Mumbai cops to probe forgery; orders GU to find guilty if it wants to continue with training prog
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Saturday, October 16, 2010 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=20101016201010160306117107f6455b7)
The Gujarat University was pulled up by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust after two students submitted a forged letter for summer training at the Mumbai port. JNPT has also filed an application with the Nhava Sheva police in Mumbai, seeking an inquiry into the forgery.
The letter was submitted by NSUI state spokesperson Hardik Dodia and Ajay Thaker, first year students of Port Management at B K Institute of Management.
Vice-Chancellor Parimal Trivedi said, “Our students have to undergo summer training for 33 days compulsorily. Usually we line up companies for the students. But if someone wants to be trained at a particular firm, we allow it. For this, the student has to submit a training or approval letter from the firm. Dodia and Thaker gave us a training letter from JNPT and we wrote a recommendation letter for them. Later, JNPT informed us that students had submitted a forged training letter.”
The V-C admitted that port trust authorities had ordered the varsity to bring the guilty to charge if they want GU students to continue training at the port. “We have formed a two-member committee. The team took down the statement of the two youths. But there are holes in their story. This incident has harmed the university’s reputation,” Trivedi added.
‘I am innocent’
Meanwhile, Dodia claimed he was conned by Kathan Trivedi, an NSUI member from Himmatnagar. “At a party meeting, I was introduced to Kathan. We got talking and I told him about my wish to train at JNPT. I had written letters to them but received no reply. Kathan said he was friends with port chairman and could get me a training letter. I also have to prepare for NSUI elections scheduled this month and would not have been able to train for all 33 days. Kathan said he would take care of this problem, too. A few days later, he gave me the training letter, which my team-mate Thaker and I submitted at the varsity. Kathan promised to meet us in Mumbai on September 21. We waited for him but he never turned up. He did not pick up our calls either. We went ahead and reported ourselves at JNPT’s HR department. There, they made us wait for 3-4 hours and then told us that the letter was a forgery.”
Dodia added, “Kathan must have done this in order to bring me in his debt. He thought I might return if I did not find him there, and he could later forge an experience letter for me. I have submitted an application against Kathan with the GU police.”
On why he has still not got in touch with Kathan, the NSUI leader said, “Kathan does not pick up my call.”
Asked why he did not just go to Kathan’s house in Himmatnagar, which is just one and a half hours drive away, he said, “I will go there in 2-3 days.” The leader could have easily asked NSUI members in Himmatnagar to bring Kathan to Ahmedabad. But even this has not been done though the fraud came to light almost a month ago.
Third party?
In a letter to Sarla Achuthan, director of B K Institute of Management, JNPT administration manager N N Kulkarni wrote: “ We have noticed some middlemen are contacting your students and organising internship/training in JNPT, may be, with ulterior motives. This was observed when we received your letter dated September 3, intimating two students will be reporting for training around September 20 even as some of your students were already under training here. The students produced a training letter signed by JNPT Deputy Chairman N N Kumar. It was provided to them by Kathan Trivedi, a Himmatnagar resident who owns a firm called DM Marketing. “We have been dealing with you directly and no other person is authorised to issue training letters. Forging the letterhead of JNPT and signature of deputy chairman is a very serious matter. We have taken up the matter with local police authorities.”
Flaying the varsity for not being vigilant, the letter stated, “When these two students produced such a forged and unusual certificate from JNPT, your institute should have taken note of this development and enquired with us whether we have issued any such letter. This should have been done especially since JNPT officially conveys to you the acceptance of your students for training. However, you chose to recommend them to JNPT on the basis of false document, without verifying its source. You should have observed that the letter was badly written and contained many other inaccuracies. The wording was wrong, too. You may investigate the matter at your end and unless we get a satisfactory reply/clarification from your institute, we shall be constrained not to entertain any request from your institute for such internship/ training at JNPT.”
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Saturday, October 16, 2010 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=20101016201010160306117107f6455b7)
The Gujarat University was pulled up by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust after two students submitted a forged letter for summer training at the Mumbai port. JNPT has also filed an application with the Nhava Sheva police in Mumbai, seeking an inquiry into the forgery.
The letter was submitted by NSUI state spokesperson Hardik Dodia and Ajay Thaker, first year students of Port Management at B K Institute of Management.
Vice-Chancellor Parimal Trivedi said, “Our students have to undergo summer training for 33 days compulsorily. Usually we line up companies for the students. But if someone wants to be trained at a particular firm, we allow it. For this, the student has to submit a training or approval letter from the firm. Dodia and Thaker gave us a training letter from JNPT and we wrote a recommendation letter for them. Later, JNPT informed us that students had submitted a forged training letter.”
The V-C admitted that port trust authorities had ordered the varsity to bring the guilty to charge if they want GU students to continue training at the port. “We have formed a two-member committee. The team took down the statement of the two youths. But there are holes in their story. This incident has harmed the university’s reputation,” Trivedi added.
‘I am innocent’
Meanwhile, Dodia claimed he was conned by Kathan Trivedi, an NSUI member from Himmatnagar. “At a party meeting, I was introduced to Kathan. We got talking and I told him about my wish to train at JNPT. I had written letters to them but received no reply. Kathan said he was friends with port chairman and could get me a training letter. I also have to prepare for NSUI elections scheduled this month and would not have been able to train for all 33 days. Kathan said he would take care of this problem, too. A few days later, he gave me the training letter, which my team-mate Thaker and I submitted at the varsity. Kathan promised to meet us in Mumbai on September 21. We waited for him but he never turned up. He did not pick up our calls either. We went ahead and reported ourselves at JNPT’s HR department. There, they made us wait for 3-4 hours and then told us that the letter was a forgery.”
Dodia added, “Kathan must have done this in order to bring me in his debt. He thought I might return if I did not find him there, and he could later forge an experience letter for me. I have submitted an application against Kathan with the GU police.”
On why he has still not got in touch with Kathan, the NSUI leader said, “Kathan does not pick up my call.”
Asked why he did not just go to Kathan’s house in Himmatnagar, which is just one and a half hours drive away, he said, “I will go there in 2-3 days.” The leader could have easily asked NSUI members in Himmatnagar to bring Kathan to Ahmedabad. But even this has not been done though the fraud came to light almost a month ago.
Third party?
In a letter to Sarla Achuthan, director of B K Institute of Management, JNPT administration manager N N Kulkarni wrote: “ We have noticed some middlemen are contacting your students and organising internship/training in JNPT, may be, with ulterior motives. This was observed when we received your letter dated September 3, intimating two students will be reporting for training around September 20 even as some of your students were already under training here. The students produced a training letter signed by JNPT Deputy Chairman N N Kumar. It was provided to them by Kathan Trivedi, a Himmatnagar resident who owns a firm called DM Marketing. “We have been dealing with you directly and no other person is authorised to issue training letters. Forging the letterhead of JNPT and signature of deputy chairman is a very serious matter. We have taken up the matter with local police authorities.”
Flaying the varsity for not being vigilant, the letter stated, “When these two students produced such a forged and unusual certificate from JNPT, your institute should have taken note of this development and enquired with us whether we have issued any such letter. This should have been done especially since JNPT officially conveys to you the acceptance of your students for training. However, you chose to recommend them to JNPT on the basis of false document, without verifying its source. You should have observed that the letter was badly written and contained many other inaccuracies. The wording was wrong, too. You may investigate the matter at your end and unless we get a satisfactory reply/clarification from your institute, we shall be constrained not to entertain any request from your institute for such internship/ training at JNPT.”
