249 Guest Faculty Members Blacklisted in Karnataka Over Fake, Invalid PhD Certificates

The Karnataka government has ordered criminal action against 249 guest lecturers accused of submitting fake or invalid PhD certificates to secure appointments in government first grade colleges during the 2025-26 academic year. The lecturers have also been permanently barred from participating in future guest faculty recruitment.

The Karnataka Collegiate Education Department issued the directive following a verification exercise conducted under a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to authenticate academic credentials submitted by guest faculty members. The exercise covered postgraduate marks cards, NET, K-SET, PhD, MPhil and Kalyana Karnataka certificates.

According to the department, the 249 lecturers were found to have submitted fake or invalid PhD certificates based on information entered by college principals on the department's Education Management Information System (EMIS) portal and the findings of scrutiny committees constituted at the college and head-office levels.

The department has instructed authorities to register criminal cases against the accused at the concerned police stations under applicable provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Officials have also been directed to submit action-taken reports within a week and upload relevant details on the EMIS portal.

The government had recruited around 10,000 guest faculty members for government first grade colleges for the 2025-26 academic year through an online counselling process based on workload requirements and information provided by applicants.

As part of the verification process, principals were directed to obtain authenticity reports from the respective universities and institutions. College-level committees headed by principals were authorised to terminate the services of guest lecturers if any submitted document was found to be fake or invalid.

Candidates affected by such decisions were given an opportunity to appeal, with cases being referred to the department's head office for further scrutiny. Following the detailed verification, the department confirmed that 249 candidates had submitted fake or invalid PhD certificates, leading to the latest action by the Karnataka government.