[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]W[/dropcap]e have reported a series of instances of financial bungling in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and violations of the Vice Chancellor (VC) Lt. Gen. Zameeruddin Shah. After the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) unearthing a series of frauds and violations, the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry has sent its report to President Pranab Mukherjee’s office, who is the Visitor of the University.
In the opinion of CAG the courses are being run without proper monitoring and there have been instances of mass copying…
The Supreme Court on Prashant Bhushan’s petition already intervened on the lack of academic qualification of the Army Officer turned Vice Chancellor, appointed during the UPA regime. The UPA regime has allowed AMU to open nationwide campuses, violating all AMU act in the name of secularism. Now, the CAG has exposed the illegalities and frauds in these Distance Education Centres, including mass copying and financial bungling.
The CAG report paragraph no.39 finds fault with this Center for Distance Education for running a number of courses without mandatory approval of the Distance Education Council, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and also not convening a single meeting of the Board of Management. The concerned portion of the CAG finds are published at the end of this report.
In the opinion of CAG the courses are being run without proper monitoring and there have been instances of mass copying and sole interest of the Directorate is in increasing the enrolment without even checking the eligibility of the candidates. Besides examination of all programme being conducted by-passing the Office of Controller of Examination of the University, and the university did not deposit the money earned by the Center in the university accounts. CAG also has mentioned the Center has conducted Ph.D. programme under distance education mode in contravention of UGC Minimum Standards and Procedure for award of Ph.D. Degree Regulation 2009, which specifically prohibits award of Ph.D. under Distance Education mode.
However the audit memo and three reminders issued by CAG have been evaded by the university. To quote CAG “…it seems to be a clear cut case of gross violation of Government and University rules, Account Code of University, and the possibility of misappropriation of funds cannot be ruled out.” In view of non-reply by the University, the CAG also reports that the action amounts to “concealment of income to the university and violation of directions of the Government as communicated by the UGC Regulation 2009”.
The university community wonders how an institution of higher education could play a dubious role in running one institution according to UGC norms and the other totally violating. The AMU Teachers Association is now knocking all doors in Delhi for action against the Vice Chancellor. Our earlier reports on financial bungling and unauthorised foreign travels and collection of donations abroad by Shah can be accessed here.
Paragraph 39 of CAG’s findings:
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What UGC norms were violated in the opening of “off campuses”? Don’t write factually inaccurate things. There were factual inaccuracies in one of your previous repots as well. Please check your facts before you go online. Bring out the UGC norms that were violated in the opening of the “off campuses”. If they were opened in the name if secularism, are you opposing it in the name of communalism?