The Educationists’ Forum today suspected financial embezzlement and unauthorized expenditure by a state university and demanded a probe by the anti-corruption bureau of the state government.
Armed with proof of expenditure, the forum, consisting of former vice-chancellors and professors, said more than Rs 50 lakh was spent by Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol in the past few months for lawyers and law firms fighting cases on behalf of the chancellor. They accused that payments were made from multiple bank accounts of the university.
The forum said the chancellor of universities is actively engaged in draining out money and resources of the universities, without the approval of the statutory bodies, the finance committee and the executive council and without prior consultation with the department of higher education.
The forum presented a statement of money transferred to the tune of Rs 30,46, 000 by Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol to defend the chancellor in court.
One of the members said, “The chancellor has no statutory power to regulate the internal affairs/administration of universities by passing the statutory bodies of universities. He cannot decide on the names of lawyers and or law firms but he is blatantly defying the applicable laws and encouraging his personal appointees to bypass the laws and regulations.”