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July 28, 2009

Corruption In IIT? Tell the CVO

Filed under: Corruption — Tags: , , , — ugcaicte @ 5:29 am

New Delhi: The Human Resource Development Ministry has announced on Monday that it will personally take an interest in all complaints of corruption against the IITs.

In an official statement, the Ministry has decreed that complaints of corruption against the Indian Institutes of Technology should be made to the Chief Vigilance Officer of the HRD Ministry.

The statement also listed several other organisations, in addition to the IITs, against which complaints can be made directly to the CVO.

These organisations included central universities, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, National Institutes of Technology, and even the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), with which most schools of the country are affiliated.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education have also been listed, as are several other central educational institutions such as the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), whose history text-books have come under a lot of flak in previous years.  

Complaints can be directed to the Chief Vigilance Officer or Under Secretary (Vigilance), C Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001.

Transferred IAS officer accuses UGC of corruption

Filed under: Corruption, UGC — Tags: , — ugcaicte @ 5:25 am

New Delhi: Recently asked to step down from the post of University Grants Commission (UGC) Secretary, IAS officer Raju Sharma is going out but not without starting a fire. Sharma alleges that this step was taken because he was against certain projects like the e-governance project, which has been given to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

UGC Chairman Sukhdeo Thorat’s brainchild, the project was awarded to TCS last month.

Starting with the haste in which the contract was awarded, UGC hired Haselfree Consultants on February 1, 2007 to prepare a Request for Proposal document to invite bidders.

The document was ready by February 20. However, contrary to practice, the UGC put out advertisements inviting tenders on February 12 before the Request for Proposal document was ready.

Wipro and TCS were shortlisted for the project, but while Wipro’s bid was substantially lower, the contract went to TCS which says it was a fair fight.

All TCS Vice President, Tanmoy Chakrabarty had to say on the subject was: “May the best company win. There were no discrepancies. We just made a better bid.”

Wipro filed a complaint with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The HRD Ministry too objected saying: “The proposal lacks essential details like scope of work, calculation details and intended income.”

The CVC directed the UGC to reply within three months and when it did, the CVC picked holes in the reply saying: “Simply grading TCS as very good and Wipro as good (by the UGC) is without any convincing analysis.”

The UGC replied to CVC’s objections in January, 2008. This time, CVC passed the replies through, even though UGC had still not given any substantial explanation.

So why was the UGC in such a hurry to go ahead with this, and how did all CVC’s objections disappear when the project was eventually awarded to TCS a month ago?

None of the people who wrote letters of dissent to the UGC were ready to make any statements on the subject and If this is a step to put India on the global map as far as e-governance is concerned, then its surely a bad start.

July 27, 2009

CBI finds assets worth Rs 1.7 cr with AICTE chairman

Filed under: AICTE, Corruption, Persons — Tags: , , , — ugcaicte @ 5:24 am

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found assets (including cash) worth slightly over Rs 2 crore from the residential and official premises of AICTE Chairman R A Yadav and advisor H C Rai.

This was revealed to mediapersons here today by CBI even as it registered a case against Yadav, Rai, Deputy Director Robinder Randhawa and regional officer Om Dalal on alleged bribery charges.

The investigation agency also arrested member secretary K Narayan Rao and S B Subba Rao, a middleman, for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 5,00,000 from an owner of engineering college in Andhra Pradesh. They were caught red-handed after the middleman had allegedly asked him for a bribe of Rs 20 lakh on behalf of the member secretary for inspection and approval of his college and had agreed to accept Rs 500,000 as the first instalment.

CBI seized Rs 1.7 crore worth cash, fixed deposits and investments from Yadav besides a 250 square yard plot in Gurgaon. “We raided different places and found cash and deposits worth Rs 1.7 crore from H C Rai’s house besides various plots in Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Rohini,” the CBI spokesperson said. AICTE officials remained unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), meanwhile, is waiting for a formal report from CBI and may suspend K Narayan Rao for allegedly accepting the bribe, according to a source close to the development.

The agency also conducted surprise raids on the offices and residences of the regional officer of AICTE’s Bhopal and Chennai where some files were recovered.

In a related incident, the Bhopal branch of CBI has registered a case of abuse of official position by regional officer Sanjay Sharma in facilitating the approval of chain of engineering colleges at Bhopal of Radha Raman Group of Institutes.

Babus make money by sitting on approval letters, says educationist

Filed under: AICTE, Corruption — Tags: , — ugcaicte @ 4:58 am

PUNE: The CBI swoop on All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) officials in Delhi on Thursday has blown the lid off alleged corruption in the apex body, alleged the head of an educational institute in the city on Friday. Some others however maintained that institutes complying with norms did not face any harassment.

The CBI on Thursday arrested K Narayan Rao, member-secretary of AICTE and middleman S B Subba Rao for allegedly seeking a bribe for granting approval to an engineering college in Andhra Pradesh. The CBI has also registered a case against AICTE chairman R A Yadav, advisor H C Rai and deputy director Robinder Randhawa in another incident of corruption.

The head of prominent management and engineering institutes in the city, on condition of anonymity, alleged that AICTE had a deep-rooted nexus which squeezed money from institutes by deliberately withholding letters of approval for existing and additional intakes.

The source said, “Institutes have to apply to AICTE for approval of courses and intake capacity every year. AICTE denied additional intake for our management and engineering institutes this year citing deficiencies in infrastructure. When we went in for appeal, the engineering intake was granted without any hassle, but management courses got additional intake from 2010-2011. Now we have approached the Bombay High Court.”

This head of an education institute also alleged that AICTE officials sit on approval letters to corner institutes and seek money. AICTE has issued back-dated approval letters this year too after institutes “settled” the matter with top officials, the source alleged.

Another management expert, who has been vocal on unscrupulous approvals to courses by AICTE, maintained that all was not well in the apex body. He said, “Many institutes, without proper infrastructure and faculty, get approval for management courses. This indicates there is something more than meets the eye. It is unfortunate that money dictates higher education.”

The founder of a prominent group of institutes which runs engineering, pharmacy and management courses, however was of opinion that the approval process at AICTE has become transparent. He said, “We faced some problems at the initial stages, but it was because of some envious competitors. Now, we don’t even need to visit AICTE as my institutes follow every laid-down norm. Institutes not complying with rules and regulations might be facing a situation, but I am not aware of it.”

ISSUE ‘SETTLED’

AICTE has issued back-dated approval letters after institutes “settled” the matter with top officials, a source alleged

CBI Asks Public to Submit Complaints Against AICTE – CBI Phone numbers

Filed under: AICTE, Corruption — Tags: , , , — ugcaicte @ 4:56 am
In an unusual step, the CBI today asked the public to contact the agency if they faced corruption in the AICTE, which recently came under scanner after the agency arrested one of its top officials and filed cases against other, including the chairman.

The CBI in a statement said it has has registered three cases regarding corruption in AICTE.

“If you have any specific complaint regarding demand of money by AICTE officials or giving approval to any college without having the required infrastructure due to corrupt practices by the expert committee members or AICTE officials, please contact Ravi Kant, Superintendent CBI on Telephone Number 011 – 2464 9299 or Bhupinder Kumar, SP CBI on 011 – 2464 9322,” the agency said.

The agency, which claims to have unearthed more evidence of huge investments in property, bank accounts and lockers by AICTE chairman R A Yadav, Advisor H C Rai and Regional Officer Sriom Dalal has also created a link on its website, where one can register his complaint.

A CBI spokesperson said, “The search of locker in the name of chairman’s wife at a bank in Ashok Vihar, New Delhi has led to recovery of jewellery worth Rs 32 lakh and seizure of Rs 4.7 lakh. Nine accounts in six banks in the name of Chairman and his family members having a total balance of over Rs 2.89 lakh have also been freezed.”

Yadav, when contacted by PTI had denied the CBI charges, saying “My wife had received Rs 56 lakh in 2005 by way of compensation for ancestral property from Delhi government”.

“Rs 46 lakh were toward the voluntary retirement which included gratuity and other benefits. They were reinvested and that explains the claims of the CBI. I have informed them (CBI) and they can get it verified from the bank,” he said adding “My son is working for the last 11 years, and he too has got the savings.”

The CBI official alleged that the then Regional Officer had acquired properties under the benami name of Lead Enterprises.

“The documents relating to a two storey freehold house in Delhi purchased in 2007 for Rs 34 lakh and another flat purchased during same year for Rs 2.25 lakh were also recovered. The present market value of both these properties is around Rs 1.75 crore,” he said.

The official said the search of locker of Advisor at a bank in the national capital has led to recovery of jewellery worth Rs 3.74 lakh.

“Twenty seven accounts with 10 Banks in the name of Advisor and his family members having balance of over Rs 24.5 lakh have also been frozen,” the official said.

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