Vet varsity V-C in dock as Capt govt orders probe

Wednesday, 02/01/2019

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PATIALA: The Punjab government has marked an inquiry against Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University vice-chancellor AS Nanda for “irregularities in admission process and concealing information that the Madhya Pradesh lokayukta had initiated a probe against him.”

The probe was marked on an affidavit submitted by associate professor of Hisar veterinary Dr Sandeep Kumar Gupta. Nanda’s tenure will end in April.

“Prima facie, I was convinced that there were serious irregularities. Rules were flouted to oblige certain candidates during admissions. Apart from it, there were also corruption charges. I had forwarded the file to chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who has now ordered probe. The chief secretary has already issued orders in this regard”, said minister for animal husbandry Balbir Singh Sidhu. He said a panel of three officers will conduct the inquiry.

In his affidavit, associate professor Gupta has alleged that Nanda’s tenure has seen marked by several irregularities that resulted in loss of lakhs of rupees to the exchequer.

He alleged that vice-chancellor violated the Supreme Court directions for carrying out admissions under the NRI category.

He said as per the top court, the NRI seats are restricted to 15% of total seats of a subject, but Nanda allegedly increased the number of seats to 18 for BVSc & AH program as against the maximum permissible limit of 9. This was done by taking permission from the academic council of the varsity. No permission was obtained from the state government.

Gupta’s affidavit said the students admitted under the NRI category at the Ludhiana veterinary college were forced to cough up US $5,000 (nearly Rs 3.5 lakh) as donation fee.

Gupta claimed that the V-C flouted rules by allowing the migration of the son of Dean of College of Dairy Sciences from Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences to GADVASU. As the fee of Kashmir varsity was much higher than that of GADVASU for the self-financed course, it resulted in benefit of Rs 30 lakh to the student.

Gupta said the V-C didn’t disclose to the state government that the Lokayukta of Madhya Pradesh, where he also served as a vice-chancellor, was conducting a probe into corruption charges against him. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg, there were many more irregularities, ”he added.