Centre for Ethics gets unethical treatment

TNN, Feb 21, 2011,

VARANASI: While the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of its founder Pt Madan Mohan Malviya, a centre named after the great visionary and established to propagate and promote ethical human values -- Malviya Centre for Ethics and Human Values (MCEHV)  is still struggling to find its legitimate status with the university.

Some startling revelations surfaced when an activist filed a Right to Information (RTI) application last year. It was revealed that the centre that came into existence on March 25, 1991 had no records to establish that it had the approval of the Executive Council (EC), the governing body of BHU. Similarly, records of permission of the then vice-chancellor RP Rastogi were also not available at the centre.

The RTI activist, Awadhesh Dixit, had asked for relevant information under RTI regarding the date of establishment of MCEHV and details of approval of the EC and the then V-C of BHU for permission of establishment of the centre at the university. In reply, the office of the registrar (development), BHU had revealed on September 1, 2010 that the centre had no records of approval of the EC and the permission of the V-C for establishing the centre. The information was provided on the basis of replies received from Prof Kamal Sheel, coordinator of the centre.

Talking to TOI on Monday, Prof Kamal Sheel said efforts were on to get the centre affiliated to the faculty of arts. "Three permanent posts, including that of one research officer and two of research assistants, have been filled and the centre is conducting regular workshops and programmes to propagate and promote the values envisaged by Malviyaji," he added.

As per Prof AN Tripathi, former coordinator of the centre, it did not ask for EC's approval and was made constituent of the university during the regime of Prof RP Rastogi, the then BHU V-C. Initially, it did not receive any funding from the university and later UGC granted fund (maximum limit of Rs 5 lakh) under a proposal for promotion of value education at university level in 2004-05. "Later, UGC also sanctioned regular posts of research officer and research assistants for its proper functioning," he added.

However, woes of the centre are not restricted to establishing its legitimacy at the university as RTI has also raised objections over the recent appointments at the centre. "The initial reports hint at changes in the eligibility criteria for selecting a particular candidate and we are gearing up to file a public interest litigation (PIL) in this regard soon," said Awadhesh Dixit, the RTI activist.