Who is the JNU professor booked in NAAC bribe-for-grade case?

NEW DELHI: Until 2016, Rajeev Sijariya had won a handful of best faculty awards from business schools where he had taught and an “Award of Honor” from the Association of Kirloskar Dealers of Rajasthan – both achievements he found worth mentioning in his official profile on the Jawaharlal Nehru University website.

Since then, he has risen sharply. He was dean of JNU’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship (ABVSME) and the chairperson at the Special Centre of E-Learning, both of which came into being in 2018. As Visitor’s nominee, he has represented the President in Banaras Hindu University’s court, the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) and Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST Shibpur). He’s been a member of the CMAT Advisory Committee of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

On Saturday, Sijariya was one of 10 people arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – including members of a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) inspection committee – for seeking bribes from a private Andhra Pradesh deemed university in exchange for higher grading.

JNU professor Rajeev Sijariya was serving as the member coordinator of the NAAC inspection panel.

The official profile on the university website and purported social media accounts attest to a very close relationship with the RSS and its affiliates – the political wing, BJP; the student group, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad; and teachers’ group, Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh.

CBI FIR, growth since 2016

According to CBI's First Information Report (FIR), there was a cumulative demand for Rs 1.80 crore for the inspection team; negotiations with Sijariya brought the favours down to a laptop and Rs 3 lakh to each of committee members, Rs 10 lakh to the team chairperson and travel expenses of the accompanying wife of one of the visiting members.

Information available on JNU's website and Sijariya's purported social media accounts shows that he joined the university’s business school in December 2020, becoming its dean in 2023. According to reports, he was later removed from that position.

Besides his responsibilities in JNU, Sijariya also served as the nominee of the Visitor – for central universities, the President of India – at the Banaras Hindu University's (BHU) court for three years, starting in May 2017.

He is currently representing the President at all the NITs and IIEST Shibpur, West Bengal, responsibilities prominently listed in his purported LinkedIn and X (Twitter) bios.

Close to the BJP

Elsewhere, on Instagram and Facebook, the management teacher describes himself, among other things, as a “motivational speaker”, “thinker” and “social activist”. Sijariya's social media activities also indicate his affinity and proximity to the Sangh Parivar. Both his purported Instagram and FB accounts have him sitting on stage alongside and sharing a laugh with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad-member Sunil Ambekar as his display picture.

While his purported X page is largely filled with his academic activities and reports of JNU events, he has recently reposted a post on Ahilyabai Holkar from ABVP, and replied on two other posts, congratulating the new leaders appointed in the organisation in one reply and criticising the West Bengal government for their alleged action against ABVP activists in the other.

In 2020, the academic had also contributed an article on Lal Bahadur Shastri in ABVP's mouthpiece, Rashtriya Chhatra Shakti. In 2016, he was given a 'Shaikshak Samman' award by Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh Uttar Pradesh, an RSS-affiliated body.

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Before joining JNU, Sijariya taught at and headed a number of business and tech schools, including Institute of Business Studies and Sir Chhotu Ram Institute of Engineering Technology at CCSU Meerut, HR Institute of Science and Technology, Ghaziabad and United Institute of Management, Greater Noida, with a total academic and administrative experience of 21 years. He has also worked in corporate firms for another four years.

A PhD in consumer behaviour, the professor has listed marketing management, entrepreneurship, start-ups and human resource and strategic management as areas of expertise. He claims to have written three books, edited another five and contributed chapters to 12. He also owns a few patents and copyrights.

Correction & Clarification: An earlier version of the story said Sijariya is still dean of the ABVSME. That has now been corrected.