‘Corruption in appointments’ at BBAU raised in Parliament

MP Anju Bala sought details of plaints, if any, and action taken by govt

LUCKNOW: The issue of corruption in the appointment of teachers by the vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), Lucknow, has now been raised in the Lok Sabha.

BJP MP from Misrikh, Anju Bala on Monday asked the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) if the government had received complaints of corruption in appointments made by the BBAU V-C. She sought details of the complaints, if any, and the action taken by the government.

Anju Bala, who is also a member of the BBAU’s board of management (BoM), had walked out of a meeting in New Delhi to protest against university’s decision to go ahead with the appointment of teachers.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had on December 12 summoned BBAU vice-chancellor Prof Ranveer Chandra Sobti, registrar Prof RB Ram, representatives of MHRD and others in a contempt case as the university went ahead with the appointments despite the court order restraining the authorities from doing so.

The court issued notice to them to appear in person before it on January 11 for further proceedings under the Contempt of Court’s Act, 1971.

Justice Rajan Roy passed the order on a contempt petition filed by one Venkatesh Singh who

alleged that the authorities did not comply with the order.

In its order, the court had observed that it was shocking that people who had been vested with the obligation to manage a university, that too a Central university, had acted in such blatant defiance of the judgment of the writ court. “Having taken such a step they now have to face the consequences,” the court said.

Raising the issue in parliament, Anju Bala also inquired whether the government had directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to conduct the audit of 10 central universities, including BBAU, following complaints about their functioning. A government-backed audit report has said that the BBAU is in a state of “complete and practically irreversible decline and collapse”. The report also highlighted divisions on caste lines in the central institution that resulted in “physical, academic and administrative rowdyism at all levels”.

“The teachers and the students are sub-standard,” it said.

The audit team said they received complaints that several teachers were not taking classes regularly.

The “final death knell” of the university is the “role of caste and the part it has played in completely polarising the institution into various groups, special interests, political groupings,” the report said.

BBAU was set up in 1996 and was named after Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar.

The MP also inquired about the museum at the university and asked if it was completed. She also asked about the budget sanctioned and the expenditure incurred on it.

She asked questions about alleged atrocities on SC/ST employees at BBAU, and if so, what action was taken by the government.

In his reply, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said some complaints of irregularities in appointments and non-implementation of reservation policy for appointments under Scheduled Caste category at BBAU were brought to the ministry’s notice by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) along with certain recommendations of the Commission.

He said BBAU was an autonomous body established under the Act of Parliament and the ministry had no role in its day-to-day functioning. “However, the recommendations of the Commission were brought to the notice of the university for consideration,” he said.

“The matter of irregularities in appointments and non-implementation of reservation policy for SCs in appointments is sub judice with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court,” the minister said.

He said as informed by BBAU, a state-of-the-art building, namely Ambedkar Bhawan, had been completed by the CPWD with the sanctioned estimated cost of Rs 38.88 crore wherein Ambedkar Museum, Ambedkar Library, seminar halls for conference/discussion on global thinkers, particularly on Ambedkar, and administrative offices, had been earmarked.

“BBAU is an autonomous institution which is governed by its own Act and statutes and is competent to deal with the complaints, if any, regarding atrocities against any section of employees,” he said, adding the UGC had informed that some complaints regarding atrocities on SC/ST employees of BBAU had been received and forwarded to the BBAU for appropriate action.