HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based edutech company Coempt Eduteck Private Limited was facing criminal cases in the Andhra Pradesh High Court — CRLP 696 of 2019 — when the CBSE awarded a Rs 384-crore contract to the company in December 2025.to digitally evaluate 17 lakh Class XII answer scripts.
The case was filed by JNTU Kakinada (JNTUK) in Andhra Pradesh against Coempt, which was then known as Globarena Technologies Private Limited, alleging a loss of Rs 26.63 crore as a result of the company’s failure to execute a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2013.
The MoU — executed on November 4, 2013 — was for the development of e-learning courseware for engineering students across all four years of study for JNTUK’s 297 affiliated and constituent colleges across eight Andhra Pradesh districts. However, it got terminated within 19 months of its agreed four-year term and ended up in a legal tangle.
Two months before the CBSE controversy broke nationally, Kannur University in Kerala had disqualified the company from participating in a tender for concealing the JNTUK case in its declaration. In a written submission to Kannur University, Coempt allegedly acknowledged the non-disclosure, suggesting that the case was “technically shown as pending.”
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle about the reason for termination, JNTU Kakinada’s officials said, “They (Globarena/Coempt officials) did not provide proper or quality content, but they claimed money.”
Dr N. Balaji, a faculty member in the electronics and communication engineering department at JNTUK’s University College of Engineering, who is currently managing the university’s legal affairs, said, “The quality of content is not good, and also they have not delivered in time,” he said. “Some subjects were rated okay, satisfactory, average, or below average.”
After the cancellation of the contract, Globarena sought arbitration, demanding `43.61 crore from the university for wrongful termination. JNTUK countered the plea stating that the content was plagiarised and the deliverables were substandard.
The AP High Court, examining the matter, found that Globarena’s content “is a plagiarised content to some extent” and recorded that persons Globarena listed as faculty developers “seem to have sent email, disowning their responsibility, intervention and interference with the subject task.”
“The judgment has come in favour of JNTU,” a former JNTUK official recounted.
The arbitration application was dismissed for default in October 2022 after the company’s counsel stopped appearing. The court noted the petitioner “appears not interested in prosecuting the present application.”
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered by the then registrar of JNTUK at Sarpavaram Police Station on January 18, 2019, under Section 406 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 420, which covers criminal breach of trust and cheating. Both are cognisable, non-bailable offences.
The FIR, reviewed by Deccan Chronicle, states that Globarena caused a loss of `26,63,88,500 to JNTUK. Surprisingly, the FIR records that JNTUK’s global tender attracted only one bidder, Globarena. Just 25 days after the FIR was registered, Globarena moved the AP High Court to quash the criminal complaint and sought a stay on all proceedings, including the arrest of chief executive officer V.S.N. Raju.
The High Court granted the stay on the next day in October 2020 — the protection remained in operation. The case registry shows the status as ‘Pending’ as of March 2024. The last recorded proceeding, from February 2024, shows the case was adjourned at the request of Globarena’s own counsel.
“The university is very serious in this matter. At any cost, the university will not lose anything,” said Dr Balaji. “We are putting in very sincere efforts. That is the reason why that FIR was filed, and legally, we are also fighting against that organisation.”
Globarena CEO V.S.N. Raju said the High Court and Supreme Court cleared the company in response to a public interest litigation connected to the 2019 Telangana Intermediate crisis. However, the criminal petition CRLP 696 of 2019 at the AP High Court remains pending.
“The only judicial proceeding that reached a substantive finding on Globarena’s conduct under the 2013 JNTUK contract was CRP 913 of 2019, decided in March 2020, and the High Court found against Globarena. The arbitration in which Globarena claimed `43 crore from JNTUK was abandoned by Globarena’s own counsel between 2022 and 2024.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
