A section of research scholars and faculty members have demanded an enquiry into allegations of swindling of research scholarship money to the tune of around ₹ 45 lakh in Madurai Kamaraj University.
University sources said internal investigations revealed that a Superintendent from Scholarship and Fellowship section, who passed away one-and-half years ago, was involved. The money, primarily meant for Scheduled Caste research scholars under Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship scheme, was allegedly transferred in 2014-15 to the personal account of the Superintendent.
Questions were raised on whether the university administration was trying to put the entire blame on the deceased official to scuttle probe into possible involvement of other officials, besides banking staff.
The issue came to light after the scholars, some of whom have completed their research, made oral and written representations to the administration since late 2015 about non-payment of scholarship arrears. C. Yona, one of the 2010-15 batch RGNF scholars, obtained details of amount released by the University Grants Commission for scholarship to MKU through Right to Information Act. “I am yet to receive around ₹ 2.3 lakh of scholarship money. The authorities were telling me that they had paid us until then from available funds and the remainder will be paid only when UGC released funds,” he said.
However, the RTI information showed that the UGC had released ₹ 1.14 crore in August 2014 for 14 RGNF scholars from Mr. Yona’s batch. The university felt the pressure to investigate when Mr. Yona wrote to the Registrar and other senior officials with the RTI information.
Highlighting the need for a thorough probe, Mr. Yona said it was unlikely that a junior staffer could have swindled the money without the connivance of others. “For releasing the amount to individual scholars, multiple approvals, including that of Assistant Registrar, Director (Research and Projects) and Registrar were needed. How did it escape the scrutiny of so many officials?” he wondered.
A senior faculty member said, “All the accounts of research scholars are with the State Bank of India’s MKU branch and so is the particular account of the deceased Superintendent. It is implausible that a large amount could be transferred to a newly-created account without the knowledge of banking staff.”
A senior official who served in the 2014-15 period, said: “You do not scrutinise each and every detail when a file comes for approval. The Superintendent could have given his account number instead of the scholars by mistake,” he said.
Sources said the issue was discussed at the recent Finance Committee meeting in Chennai and a note was submitted to Higher Education Secretary Sunil Paliwal on how the money was swindled by the deceased Superintendent and requesting advice on further course of action.
On the possibility of a detailed investigation, a senior university official said it could be decided only by the Higher Education Secretary or by the next Vice-Chancellor, when the university gets one.
