Institute of Distance Education comes under the scanner

Local Fund Audit has raised 654 objections pertaining to ₹27 crore

April 30, 2018 12:40 am | Updated 05:04 pm IST - CHENNAI

CHENNAI: 29/07/2014: University of Madras. Photo: V. Ganesan.

CHENNAI: 29/07/2014: University of Madras. Photo: V. Ganesan.

All is not well at the Institute of Distance Education (IDE) of the University of Madras, a scrutiny by the Local Fund Audit (LFA) has revealed.

Errors in the institute’s mode of managing bank accounts, non-maintenance of funds/registers, mismanagement of funds, lack of assessment of demand for admission leading to excess printing of prospectus-cum-applications have all led to the erosion of the IDE’s funds. The LFA has raised 654 objections pertaining to ₹27 crore.

In the last six years, the IDE consistently printed prospectus-cum-applications in excess, leading to an excess expenditure of ₹1,40,903, the audit pointed out. The admission strength had fallen by 40%, leading to a 20% dip in fee receipts.

The university had not prepared and produced the ‘Demand, Collection and Balance Statement’ for the fees collected from students enrolled for the various courses from financial year 2006-07. The university said that with the introduction of the online mode of payment for the admission and examination wing of the IDE, the DCB statement would be prepared and submitted for audit.

No bank record

For 2016-17, the LFA raised 19 objections pertaining to ₹21,71,161. The IDE had not cashed all the cheques it received. Until March 31 of 2017, it had cheques for ₹1,17,67,616 that were not encashed.

Subsequently, it encashed many of them, but a cheque for ₹2.36 lakh was not encashed till the close of audit.

The institute showed ₹13,69,354 as being credited, but at the end of financial year 2016-17, the bank had no record. Later, the error was only partially rectified.

The university responded that the rectified demand drafts were being sent to the bank concerned for encashing.

Last year, the actual expenditure incurred by the IDE under various heads was in excess of the revised budget estimate to the tune of ₹6,17,809.

The university maintained that the excess expenditure was due to cost increase and assured that it would seek the Senate’s approval.

The IDE cancelled 44 study centres, but failed to furnish details.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.