Patna: The Governor’s Secretariat has ordered an inquiry into alleged large-scale financial and administrative irregularities at Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU), including the alleged misuse of the university’s corpus fund, irregular appointments, procurement without tenders and violations in the affiliation of private colleges.
The four-member committee, constituted on the instructions of Governor and Chancellor Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Syed Ata Hasnain, will be headed by Pawan Kumar Sinha, special secretary in the Higher Education Department. It has been asked to submit its report to the Governor’s Secretariat within 15 days.
Probe to examine financial and administrative issues
Deepak Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary to the Governor, said the committee had been constituted to investigate alleged irregularities in tender processes and other financial matters at the university. Sinha has been appointed coordinator of the committee.
The other members are Md Jamil, joint secretary in the Home Department; Ravikant Dev, deputy director in the Directorate of Prosecution; and Ramanuj Prasad Singh, deputy secretary in the Education Department.
According to the Governor’s Secretariat, the inquiry will examine allegations involving misuse of the university’s corpus fund, financial irregularities, appointments, procurement of goods without tenders, alleged diversion of funds through outsourcing agencies, improper payment of travel allowances and abuse of administrative authority.
GeM purchases and private college affiliations under scrutiny
The Secretariat said procurement worth crores of rupees through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal would also be examined. GeM is the Central government’s online procurement platform for government departments and public sector organisations.
The inquiry will also examine allegations that private colleges were granted affiliation in violation of prescribed rules.
The probe will be based on 1,344 pages of documents and complaints submitted to the authorities.
Corpus fund withdrawals among key allegations
The alleged misuse of the university’s corpus fund is among the issues highlighted by the Governor’s Secretariat. It said several crore rupees had allegedly been withdrawn from the fund, and that the transactions would be examined as part of the inquiry.
The committee will also investigate allegations of large-scale appointments at the university involving payments routed through an outsourcing agency identified as Elite Falcons.
Registrar asked to cooperate
The university registrar has been directed to provide full cooperation to the committee and make additional documents and records available whenever required during the investigation.
The Governor’s Secretariat said legal action would be taken against those found guilty after the committee submits its report.
