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The School of Law at DY Patil Deemed-to-be-University, Navi Mumbai is facing backlash for falsely listing Dr Kiran Bedi, Maneka Gandhi and Senior Advocate NS Nappinai as members of its 'Expert Advisory Board'.
In emails accessed by Bar & Bench, Nappinai demanded a public retraction, stating,
"I have seen the prospectus being circulated by DY Patil (which claims to be 'Deemed to be University'), Navi Mumbai which clearly uses my name, image and albeit incorrect designation to promote itself, all of this without my permission or consent. This does not behoove an educational institution."
Vice-Chancellor Dr Vandana Mishra Chaturvedi provided an explanation, stating that Nappinai's name was used in the old prospectus that was allegedly made by an ex-employee. The said ex-employee had invited her for a webinar series, she claimed.
However, Nappinai responded,
"Your claim of the same being an alleged "old prospectus" does not appear to be factually correct. Apart from the prospectus making false claims, the same also sets out my designation incorrectly. Each of these are grave violations. Notwithstanding the alleged explanation set out in your mail, which I believe to be incorrect and not and not reflective of reality, I call upon you explicitly to cease and desist from using my name, image or any identifiers to promote your educational institution."
When asked on the usage of her name in the prospectus, Bedi said in an email,
"I have consented to no such advisory boards. All concerned please note. If my name has been added without my written consent, please have it deleted immediately."
Gandhi similarly denied giving her consent to the use of her name.
The prospectus provided two sets of expert advisory members. The first listed 23 members including Bedi, Gandhi and Nappinai as part of an 'Expert Advisory Board across industry and academia'.
When questioned why these names were added to the prospectus, Director Prof (Dr) Karuna Akshay Malviya told Bar & Bench over call,
"There is no mention of both of them in the placement brochure. However, we also got an email from Dr. Kiran Bedi's office. It was there in our old prospectus because there was part of our webinar series, both of them. It is a typo error, it should have been 'Learn from the Expert'. The real advisory board is on the next page."
Via email, Prof Malviya said,
"We would like to clarify that the individuals mentioned on that page were our Guest Speakers, and the heading should have read as “Expert Speakers” instead of “Advisory Members.” This was an inadvertent typographical error in the older version of the prospectus, which is no longer in circulation."
When asked if a formal notice will be issued by the University, she said,
"Actually, the call was very informal from their office, directly to the Vice-Chancellor. The prospectus is not published, the old prospectus was there on our website, that is already been pulled down. You can cross-verify. We are very ethically trying to give excellence in education."
A testimonial from Bedi can still be seen on the DY Patil, deemed to be University website.