Letter on fund cuts to CSDE forged: UGC

NEW DELHI: Higher education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC) has claimed that the letter in its name purportedly received by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which announced an end to the funding for the University's Study of Discrimination and Exclusion (CSDE) was a 'forgery'. UGC also stated that the CSDE will continue to receive funds.

The perusal of the letter received by JNU shows that the letter was faxed from a Mumbai number with STD code 022.

Meanwhile, the UGC stated that it has no office in Mumbai. Moreover, all its records have been checked and it has been confirmed that no such letter was issued or faxed by the UGC office.

Bringing a sigh of relief to the professors and students of CSDE, the UGC on Saturday clarified that it will not be withdrawing its financial support for the Centre, which is a part of JNU'S School of Social Sciences.

The forged letter received by JNU read: “I am directed to inform you that the UGC will not provide financial support to the centre (Centre for Social Discrimination and Exclusion) after the end of XIITH Plan as per the order received from MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development).”

On the contrary, the statement issued by UGC read: “UGC has established the Centres for Study of Discrimination and Exclusion in various universities in the Xth Plan, on a plan-to-plan basis, provided these centres give satisfactory progress in the areas of their focus. Keeping in view the same procedure, the UGC would be extending these centres from 1st April, 2017 onwards.”

“The records of UGC have been checked and it is confirmed that no such letter has been issued or dispatched by the office of UGC. The UGC is contemplating taking all appropriate legal action in this regard,” the UGC statement further said.