Amity Business School: Newspapers are Waking Up!

Heck, I know this is not travel but occassionally my other writings spill over on this blog because it is my most read one (or at least I have that illusion). Ideally it belongs to Everything Else but hardly anyone reads it!

So here I go. The first piece of news I wanted to share is that Amity is no longer holding Indian Science Congress for 2007. According to this Deccan Herald report it will now be held at Annamalai University and the directions came straight from the PM's office.

Next year’s Science Congress, to be held from January 3 to January 7, will not be hosted by Delhi’s Amity University, apparently because of international criminal cases pending against two directors of the institution.

These instructions to the Kolkata-based Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) have come directly from the Prime Minister’s Office. According to sources, there are criminal cases pending against two Amity University directors, Ashok Kumar Chauhan and Arun Kumar Chauhan. The new venue is Chidambaram’s Annamalai University.

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President A P J Abdul Kalam are both expected to be present in the 94th Indian Science Congress, the PMO did not want the Amity University in Greater Noida to be the venue, apprehending unwarranted criticism in the future.

The report further adds:

“The decision to shift the venue to Annamalai University was taken on July 22 at an ISCA meeting. The instructions came from higher-ups in Delhi,” Dr Harsh K Gupta, president of the 94th Indian Science Congress, told Deccan Herald.

When contacted, Amity spokesperson Savita Mehta said the institute had received the information from the government. However, she refrained from commenting on the matter.

Last year, Mr E Ahmed, minister of state in the External Affairs Ministry, had said that valid arrest warrants were issued by German judicial authorities against Ashok and Arun, directors of Amity International.

Interpol has issued Red-Corner-Notice Nos. 453/1990 and 459/1998 respectively at the request of Interpol Wiesbaden.

In another separate incident, Amity Business School has been directed by consumer forum to pay Rs. 1.10 lakhs as an compensation to a student for providing misleading information.

Amity Business School has been directed by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 1.10 lakh as compensation to a student for misleading her that its course was recognised by All India Council for Technical Education.

The report adds:

The Bench headed by Justice J D Kapoor and member Rumnittra Mittal said, "unfair trade practice saddles the person who makes such representation with the liability of compensating the consumer as to the loss or injury suffered by the consumer due to such misrepresentation."
The Commission, enhancing the award amount by Rs 10,000, said that in such cases it was very difficult to assess the loss on highly hypothetical basis.
As per Bhatia, she took admission in the PGDIB Programme of the Amity after being informed that it was recognised by the AICTE. Later, she found the course was not recognised.
The Forum, allowing her complaint, had asked Amity to pay the compensation and directed it to place advertisements in two national dailies that its PGDIB course was un-recognised so that the other aspirants know the fact.