A case has been filed against 24 candidates from the Engineering and Nautical Department for allegedly securing jobs through fraudulent Certificates of Competency (COC) issued by the Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping). This organization is the leading authority for maritime administration and education in India, and the infiltration of its system is a grave concern. The complaint was lodged by Praveen Nair, Deputy Director General (Technical) at DG Shipping, following a suspicious email from Chief Examiner Ajit Sukumar regarding a candidate named Mishal Dev Anand, whose COC was found to be invalid.
Investigations revealed that the fraudulent entries were made using the login ID of a Kolkata examination center. A total of 13 fake entries were identified for the engineering department, alongside 2 for the nautical sector. Consequently, the relevant login ID has been deactivated. Further scrutiny of five other examination centers uncovered a total of 102 fake candidates, with 46 in engineering and 56 in nautical, all linked to the Kolkata center.
Certificates of Competency, printed by the Nashik Government Press, are color-coded and personalized for various engineering roles. Unfortunately, some individuals have exploited the system by creating counterfeit booklets to gain employment. An audit of 46 employees hired in the last two to three years revealed that 24 had questionable COC records, with 21 being copies and 3 confirmed as forgeries.
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