Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, July 29: The high-level committee by Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), which conducted special audit of Central University of Jammu this week, is learnt to have taken cognizance of the alleged financial irregularities in the university and assigning of administrative positions to contractual Professors in sheer violation of the UGC guidelines.
Further, in an embarrassment to the CUJ administration, the audit committee members refused to accept ‘mementoes’ and also questioned the rationality behind arranging their stay at a luxury hotel near Vijaypur even as the university guest house was available for the accommodation.
Sources told the Excelsior that during inspection of official records and interaction with the university stakeholders, the audit committee came to know that some retired teachers of Jammu University have been directly appointed as Contractual Professors in the CUJ and subsequently made Deans and Heads of the Departments thus violating UGC norms in this regard.
These contractual Professors are occupying the significant positions in the university, such as Dean School of Educational Studies, Head Department of Education, Head Department of English, Head Department of Mass Communication & New Media, Dean School of Languages, Head Department of Physics, Head Department of Chemistry, Head Department of Material Science, Head Department of Animal Sciences, Dean School of Life Sciences, Head Department of Environment Sciences, etc.
As per the UGC guidelines, re-employed superannuated teachers are not eligible for holding administrative or financial responsibilities of the institution or elsewhere. A retired Professor can be re-employed for academic purpose for teaching and research only.
The UGC guidelines make it clear that only a regular teacher, who fulfills eligibility norms and appointed through due selection process (advertisement, screening, selection committee and then appointment through Executive Council) can be considered for the appointment as Deans or Heads of the Department or for some other Administrative positions.
However, sources said, these contractual Professors were not only installed as Deans and Heads but also accorded administrative and financial responsibilities in the CUJ. For example, in the selection committee for the post of Cook, advertised vide Employment Notification No. 09 dated 08-06.2016, a contractual re-employed Professor in the University was made the Chairman of the selection committee and another contractual Professor was made as its member, in clear violation of UGC guidelines.
Further, sources added, UGC norms were violated again in formation of Selection Committees for the interviews of the posts of Assistant Professors in June 2016. In these interviews, contractual Professors were sitting in the capacity of Dean of School and Head of the Department even as all of them did not qualify for the same.
As already reported by the Excelsior, a high-level committee by MHRD was here from July 24 to July 26 for conducting financial, academic and infrastructure audit of the CUJ, which has been listed as one of the non-performing varsities of the country.
The committee was headed by Prof K K Aggarwal, Chancellor of Kumar Manglam University and comprised of Prof Palak Ghosh from IIM Bangalore, K P Pandian, Head Administration and Finance of National Centre for Biological Sciences and Prof Panchanan Mohanty from the University of Hyderabad, as its members.
According to the sources, the MHRD panel thoroughly scrutinized and cross-checked the officials records pertaining to payments and use of University funds in the wake of complaints that the university had passed the bills worth Rs 180 crores in the absence of regular Finance Officer.
Sources said that the audit team also looked into several cases of alleged favouritism, wherein some contractual faculty members were paid salary for the period when they were abroad.
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