Last Updated:November 28, 2025, 08:00 IST The Al-Falah episode is a reminder that the system entrusted with certifying credibility in higher learning has become almost incapable of identifying the worst possible red flags The private university was running at least nine educational institutions that included streams like humanities, language, molecular science, engineering, and medical science. File pic/PTI The arrest of Al-Falah University’s owner-founder and the following crackdown on multiple medical colleges early this week should not shock anyone. Instead, what is really shocking is how India’s higher education bodies, University Grants Commission (UGC), National Medical Commission (NMC), and National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI), failed to see what was unfolding right under their noses. For years, higher education regulators and related authorities, which recognised Al-Falah University and allowed grants, have remained a lumbering bureaucracy. They were heavy on circulars, light on scrutiny, loud on regulation, and silent on the ground. There was no periodical scrutiny. The Al-Falah episode is only the latest reminder that the system entrusted with certifying credibility in higher learning has …