Business
Standard: New Delhi: Monday, 25 January 2016.
Jamia Millia
Islamia which recently courted controversy for having spent over Rs 26 lakh on
NAAC team visit, has allocated a whopping Rs 1.5 crore for renovation of the
Vice Chancellor's office, prompting activists to seek UGC's intervention in the
issue.
The UGC, on
its part, has sought an explanation from the university about such huge
expenditure.
According to
the university's response to RTI query filed by activist Firoz Bakht Ahmad, it
has earmarked Rs 1,54,27,403 for repairing and refurbishing the VC's office.
Rs 4.8 lakh
was spent on the office's renovation during the tenure (2009-2013) of previous
Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung, who is now the lieutenant Governor of the national
capital.
Rs 54.8 lakh
was spent on refurbishing the office when Mushir-ul-Hasan was the Vice
Chancellor from 2004 to 2009.
"It
should be a subject matter of thorough probe as to what went wrong with the
building and its furniture which were luxuriously renovated in the recent years
that the VC office needs such an amount for renovation again, ignoring the
laboratories and toilet facilities in the university which remain
unattended," a complaint sent to UGC by Ahmad and laywer Atyab Siddiqui
said.
While the
university authorities maintained that the amount has been allocated keeping
the "massive" scale of renovation in mind, the University Grants
Commission (UGC) has sought an "explanation" from the university and
asked it to take "appropriate action" in this regard.
Jamia
spokesperson Mukesh Ranjan said, "Whatever amount has been allocated has
been done after following due procedures. The renovation is going on a massive
scale so the amount is needed and since inflation has gone up it can't be
compared with previous regimes".
"Also,
it is not only the VC office which is being renovated. We have come up with a
new hostel and other infrastructure is also being upgraded and the university
spends every penny keeping accountability in mind," he said.
The
complainants have also claimed that the varsity's
Planning
Board, which is a statutory body for planning infrastructural development, has
not had a single meeting since its constitution in 25 years.
"It was
in 1991 that the Planning Board (Statute 16-A) was created by HRD ministry so
that prospective development of Jamia is planned in an efficacious manner, and
finances are properly regulated.
"This
was a mechanism to do away with haphazard planning, and prevent unnecessary
waste of public resources. Unfortunately, since its inception (25 years have
lapsed) not a single meeting of the board has been convened," Siddiqui
alleged.
However, the
varsity spokesperson, said, "All building projects get approved by the
Finance Committee and Executive Council that have representations from UGC and
MHRD".
A varsity
teacher said on condition of anonymity, "It is outrageous that the Vice
Chancellor's office, which was renovated fully very recently from tiles to
furniture, is being renovated again. Why is that the VC office needs this
face-lift every now and then and the demands for other infrastructural needs of
the university are answered with paucity of funds. This is tax-payers
money".
Jamia had
recently hogged limelight for the lavish treatment it extended to a team from
National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) by spending Rs 26.50 lakh.
The
university had booked over a dozen rooms at a five-star hotel, spent nearly Rs
2 lakh on cabs, and Rs 1.26 lakh on leather bags for the team members.
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