Coempt Eduteck Won CBSE Deal Despite Facing Legal Case
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based education technology company Coempt Eduteck Private Limited was facing criminal cases in the Andhra Pradesh High Court – CRLP 696 2019 – when CBSE in December 2025 awarded the company a Rs 384-crore contract to digitally evaluate 17 lakh Class XII answer scripts.
The case was filed by JNTU Kakinada (JNTUK) in Andhra Pradesh against Coempt, then known as Globarena Technologies Private Limited, alleging damages of Rs 26.63 million due to the company’s failure to honor a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2013.
The MoU, signed on November 4, 2013, was for the development of e-learning courseware for engineering students across four years of study in JNTUK’s 297 affiliated and constituent colleges across eight districts of Andhra Pradesh. However, it was terminated 19 months after the agreed 4-year term, leaving it in a legal deadlock.
Two months before the CBSE controversy broke out across the country, Kannur University in Kerala had barred the company from participating in the tender due to the suppression of the JNTUK case in its affidavit. In a written submission to Kannur University, Coempt allegedly agreed not to disclose the case, arguing that it was “technically shown as pending”.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle about the reason for termination, JNTU Kakinada officials said, “They (Globarena/Coempt officials) did not provide appropriate or quality content but demanded money.”
Dr. is a lecturer in the department of electronics and communications engineering at JNTUK University’s Faculty of Engineering and currently manages the legal affairs of the university. “The quality of the content is not good and it was not delivered on time,” said N. Balaji. “Some subjects were rated as good, satisfactory, average or below average.”
After the contract was cancelled, Globarena filed for arbitration, demanding Rs 43.61 crore from the university for wrongful termination. JNTUK disputed this claim, stating that the content was plagiarized and the output was substandard.
Reviewing the matter, the AP Supreme Court found that Globarena’s content was “plagiarized to some extent” and noted that individuals listed as Globarena’s faculty developers “appeared to have sent emails denying their responsibility, involvement, and involvement in the task in question.”
“The decision came in favor of JNTU,” said a former JNTUK official.
The arbitration application was dismissed for default in October 2022 after the company’s lawyer stopped showing up for the hearing. The court stated that the petitioner “is not interested in the prosecution of 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 breach of trust and cheating. Both are cognizable, non-bailable offences.
The FIR, reviewed by Deccan Chronicle, states that Globarena caused $26,63,88,500 in damages to JNTUK. Surprisingly, the FIR records that only a single bidder, Globarena, participated in JNTUK’s global tender. Just 25 days after the FIR was registered, Globarena approached the AP High Court to quash the chargesheet and sought a stay of all proceedings, including the arrest of chief executive officer VSN Raju.
The Supreme Court granted an adjournment the day after October 2020; protection was still in effect. Case records show the status as ‘Pending’ as of March 2024. The last recorded hearing, from February 2024, shows that the case was adjourned at the request of Globarena’s own lawyer.
“The university is very serious about this. The university will not lose anything at any cost,” Dr Balaji said. “We are making a very sincere effort. This is the reason why the FIR was filed and we are fighting against that organization legally.”
Globarena CEO VSN Raju said the Supreme Court and Supreme Court cleared the company in response to a public interest litigation linked to the Telangana Intermediate Crisis of 2019. However, the criminal petition numbered CRLP 696 of 2019 is still pending in the AP High Court.
“The only judicial proceeding that made a substantive finding regarding Globarena’s conduct under the 2013 JNTUK agreement was CRP 913 of 2019, decided in March 2020, in which the Supreme Court ruled against Globarena. The arbitration, in which Globarena sought `43 crore from JNTUK, was set aside by Globarena’s own counsel between 2022 and 2024.”
