For years IIPM offered its fraud degrees across India and used its various “unrecognised” institutions in India and overseas to duck the legal system. Thousands of students have been marketed into buying the so-called degrees that was supposed to be even better than the IIM delivered programs. IIPM used a maze of institutions and challenged every word questioning its legitimacy.
Finally and after tireless pursuit over years, Delhi High Court has handed down the judgement and declared that the degrees offered by IIPM are fraudulent and further, they have been asked to put the judgement on their website and issue an apology. Further, the maze of institutions and their modus operandi too has been commented upon.
The summary of the judgement an be found in the press reports. Quoting from one such below:
A division bench comprising chief justice G. Rohini and justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw restrained IIPM and its management with immediate effect from using the words “MBA, BBA, management course, management school, business school or b-school” in relation to the courses offered by it as well as in representations made to the public. The institute was also “directed to prominently display on the website of IIPM that they are not recognized by any statutory body/authority” and clarify the status of the foreign institutions from which students enrolling in IIPM would be getting a degree or certification. IIPM was given a week’s time to upload and display the court’s judgement prominently on its website to ensure that the attention of anyone visiting the website is drawn to it. The court also imposed costs of Rs.25,000 on IIPM, which has to be paid to Delhi Legal Services Authority. The court noted that IIPM was promoting an impression that it had recognition from a foreign management institute–International Management Institute (IMI), Belgium. The court found that in fact IMI had been set up by Arindam Chaudhuri and his father Malay Chaudhuri and was not even recognized by the laws of Belgium. Calling this arrangement a “maze…to entrap students” the court said that such “advertisements have the potential of misguiding young minds who have a craze for foreign education in the hope it will open doors for international placements/employments and cleverly concealing from them that IMI, Belgium is nothing but an alter ego or another face of IIPM.” The court said that it was a settled position that “no institution should run MBA/Management course, without the approval of the AICTE,” or All India Council for Technical Education. IIPM, lacking such recognition, was not entitled to run or advertise such management courses. (Source: Live Mint )
This is a huge judgement and certainly not the end of the story on IIPM as I am sure that several students who have thus been cheated with may rise to take the “man” to task. If I was one such student, I would now use this judgement and its detailed outlining of the “maze” to claim damages for the fraud committed using marketing hype. Time also for all those who sided with the ponytail to “wake up”. This includes the like of Mr Arnabh Goswami of Times Now who invited him on several of his News Hour debates as a hallowed guest and also to the SRK who lent his credibility to the IIPM. Full Judgement can be studied from this link.
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