M A I N   N E W S

Soon, law for e-storage of academic certificates
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 15
There’s good news for students. The Government has finalised a draft law to ensure online electronic storage of academic certificates on the lines of share certificates and financial instruments. The move will effectively curb the practice of forging certificates and marksheets.

At the heart of the law is the need to simplify tedious mechanisms for verification of academic qualifications and ensure their authenticity for the job market. Titled the National Academic Depository Bill 2010, it provides for creation of a National Academic Depository to establish and maintain a national database of academic awards in an electronic format.

The depository, to be appointed by the Centre through a notification, can either be registered under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act, 1992, or be a fully owned subsidiary of such a depository. India has two depositories registered with SEBI -- the National Securities Depositories Limited and the Central Depository Services Limited.

After appointment, NAD would have to establish safeguards to store, access and retrieve records while ensuring their confidentiality, fidelity and authenticity. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has provided in the law severe penalties (ranging up to Rs 1 crore) for damages to computer systems and, thereby, to records and for wrong certifications of certificates by the depositor.

If the National Academic Depository contravenes its responsibilities, it can face a penalty up to Rs 50 lakh each. Similarly, an academic institute that fails to offer awards to the national database can face a penalty up to Rs 5 lakh for each failure. The most stringent punishment has been reserved if National Academic Depository, upon revocation of appointment by the Centre, either refuses to provide the records it holds or wrongly authenticates such records.

“In such an event, the promoters and directors of National Academic Depository will be liable for imprisonment upto 10 years or with fine up to Rs 10 crore or both,” states the draft law, to come up for discussions this weekend at the meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education.

While the depositors’ role will be strictly monitored under the new law, academic institutes will also have to live up to their responsibility. All universities, institutes of national importance, deemed universities, other higher educational institutes, Central and state boards of secondary education would have to compulsorily place academic awards with the National Academic Depository. Boards will be required to share records of marksheets of Classes X and XII.