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Pondicherry University V-C under fire over alleged financial irregularities

Dissent and anger had been brewing in the Pondicherry University campus ever since Krishnamurthy took charge as V-C.

If almost a dozen probe reports lying before the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on Pondicherry University administration are to be believed, Vice Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy, who is facing a series of allegations, has had enough reasons to repatriate the registrar Rajeev Yaduvanshi, an IAS officer last week who fought V-C with tooth and nail. His repatriation order that came on October 24 had sparked major protests in the campus besides hunger strikes and gheroing the administration seeking the removal of V-C and reinstatement of Yaduvanshi.

Dissent and anger had been brewing in the campus ever since Krishnamurthy took charge as V-C in February 2013. There had been a number of petitions and official probe reports on violations and financial irregularities against the V-C, which are all now lying before the MHRD and Minister Smriti Irani with attached evidences of major statutory violations by her administration.

This is besides the point as her appointment as V-C itself was challenged before the Madras high court questioning her qualification. Petitions were sent to MHRD for flouted rules in her selection in November 2012 as she had no qualification required for the V-C post and the then HRD minister Pallam Raju had recommended her name on December 10, 2012 to the V-C post with the help of an under secretary instead of submitting a list of three candidates to the President. “But a group of ministry officials ran the show in UPA regime continue to take decisions in MHRD and they have buried almost all the evidences and probe reports submitted by Yaduvanshi,” said a senior ministry official.

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A section of officials familiar with the state of affairs at the Pondicherry University, one of the earliest central universities in the country, feel that the academics and students had decided to express solidarity with the registrar Yaduvanshi, an IAS officer, with due reasons and protest against his repatriation. Protests against the V-C erupted first in April 2014 with a shocking incident of illegal detention of a post graduate student by a professor close to V-C aided by a security personnel for 27 hours. Charges against the student was that he entered the University girl’s hostel.

According to an internal probe report submitted before the then MHRD secretary Ashok Thakur in June 2014, the student S Radhakrishnan, a first year MA Tamil student, was detained under V-C’s order by S Hariharan, director of Academic Staff College, who is on deputation at the university. The student under illegal detention for more than 27 hours was tortured to confess and paraded before the girl’s hostel. But what had put the V-C in trouble later was not just the illegal detention, but a finding by the disciplinary committee probe that the student was not guilty as he was in the university library at the time when he was alleged to have entered the hostel.

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Evidences including a probe report and CCTV footage are now before MHRD, and an order from National Human Rights Commission (NHRD) sought action against the V-C in this case last month. An FIR was also filed in the local police station against V-C and Hariharan for the illegal detention. But not only did the V-C refrain from taking any action against Hariharan till date, she had buried the video evidence to save herself from facing action and elevated Hariharan as a member of statutory planning board of the university, replacing  Yaduvanshi, who had recommended Hariharan’s suspension.

Another internal report on the chaotic administrative system, on June 12, 2014, alerted MHRD that Hariharan was also given an extension as the director of Academic Staff College, violating rules and appointed him as the dean in-charge of the college development council and the head of affiliation wing. The report warned that Hariharan, who was appointed to head the affiliation wing that handles over 90 private institutions, is also facing a CBI case for favoring affiliation of a private engineering college in Chennai. The request from CBI seeking the prosecution sanction against him is being delayed by V-C office.

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Hariharan was inducted in over 30 prime committees of the university administration too. These incidents created constant unrest among
students and teachers while V-C continued to sideline Yaduvanshi for reporting these to MHRD.

A set of internal reports submitted between May and September 2014 by Yaduvanshi reported how V-C Krishnamurthy had ruined the academic and administrative system in the university by running a parallel autocratic system with half a dozen staff acceding “to her whims and fancies.” For instance, in a gross violation of university statutes, the V-C had appointed a 64-year-old faculty, V Indumathi, to the statutory post of Director (Studies) and made her sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a foreign institution on behalf of the registrar when he was serving the office. Also, the V-C made Indumathi to sign as the registrar in-charge to approve several recruitments, which were later cancelled by the ministry terming it illegal.

Another report before the MHRD secretary shows the “fear psychosis” the V-C had created by transferring people those who dared to express dissent. For instance, a report before MHRD secretary said Mohanan Pillai, a professor of politics and international studies was transferred to a community college 700kms away from the university soon after he took charge as the president of Pondicherry University Faculty Association. Senior philosophy professor K Srinivas was transferred to another community college at Yanam, 800kms away from Pondicherry, much before the college even got a UGC clearance. P Ramalingam, a reader at the academic staff college who raised his voice against Hariharan, was also transferred to a campus, 160kms away, to work on a clinical psychology programme.

Another note before MHRD on illegal appointments and financial irregularities reported that despite having a full-fledged in-house legal wing and law officers, the V-C has been paying a hefty salary every month to a legal consultant . It was a post she herself created and ran a system in which she made sure that all files are routed through this person. When the contract of such consultants are only limited to six months and paid a monthly salary of Rs 25,000, the report said the legal consultant was given a contract of two years and being paid a salary of Rs.1.25 lakh to 1.55 lakh a month.

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Another report by Yaduvanshi shows how V-C Krishnamurthy had inaugurated a Community College at Yanam, much before the UGC took a decision on its approval. The registrar questioned the source of huge money spent for the inaugural ceremony of the college as it did not follow procedures and that the function was organised early this year, just before the Lok Sabha elections, allegedly for the electoral gains of the former Union Minister of State V Narayanasamy from the same constituency. The report also mentions the V-C’s effort to appease local politicians by trying to offer a 25% reservation for local students in admissions, an idea which is against the concept of a central university, and a handful of appointments for local people in the administration when there were no approved vacancies or MHRD approvals for recruitments. However, these moves were shot down by MHRD in June 2014 with its order that an executive council meeting that proposed these ideas itself was illegal.

Despite in possession of volumes of official reports about violations and irregularities, why do the MHRD continue to turn a blind eye? One reason could be the frequent change of ministry secretaries – three secretaries after Krishnamurthy had taken charge as V-C. And the fact that a lower-level bureaucracy handling central university affairs continue to run the show in the ministry that systematically buries the crucial reports meant for the secretary.

“A senior secretary heading the central universities’ wing and known for his close links with UPA leaders continue to pull the strings. Its easy to hide a file or kill a report when the new secretary is still learning the basics of the ministry while the minister has handful of jobs besides handling over 100 such central institutions,” said a senior ministry official. D Ramakrishna Rao, deputy secretary in charge of central universities, MHRD refused to comment on these allegations.

V-C Krishnamurthy was not available for comment. A source close to her said a section of people have been targeting her for her strict administration. “Let them question the ministry if she does not have qualification. Let the ministry take action if there are violations,” he said.

First uploaded on: 13-11-2014 at 16:08 IST
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