**Exhibit 31.1**

** **

**Rule 13a-14(a) Certification of thePrincipal Executive Officer**

 

I, Gerald McGuire,certify that:

 

1.           Ihave reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K/A of Scio Diamond Technology Corporation;

 

2.           Basedon my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessaryto make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respectto the period covered by this report;

 

3.           Basedon my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all materialrespects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presentedin this report;

 

4.           Theregistrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls andprocedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a–15(e) and 15d–15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a–15(f) and 15d–15(f)) for the registrant and have:

 

(a)           Designedsuch disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,to ensure that material information relating to the registrant is made known to us by others within those entities, particularlyduring the period in which this report is being prepared;

 

(b)           Designedsuch internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed underour supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financialstatements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

 

(c)           Evaluatedthe effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions aboutthe effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on suchevaluation; and

 

(d)           Disclosedin this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’smost recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materiallyaffected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5.           Theregistrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control overfinancial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (orpersons performing the equivalent functions):

 

(a)           Allsignificant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting whichare reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;and

 

(b)           Anyfraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’sinternal control over financial reporting.

 

Date:    July 29, 2015