Nagpur university:-Where has Rs 52 crore gone?

It can't get any worse! Despite a month since the start of the new academic year, the affiliated colleges,

under Nagpur University,

have not yet returned excess money to the tune of Rs 52 crore. The money was charged
from over 1.75 lakh students due to a printing mistake in the university's booklet.

Even the university's officials, including vice chancellor SN Pathan seem to be sleeping over the goof-up after constituting a panel under management council member Pramod Yeole.

TOI was the first to expose this big blunder in its April 2 edition. The report stated that even after the university's directive, colleges failed to refund the money.

The VC had constituted the Yeole-committee. The other members of the panel includes senate members

Dr Ratnakar Dhamankar, RG Bhoyar, and Sharayu Taywade, management council member Nirmal

Kumar Singh and deputy registrar with the university's backward cell BS Rathod.

A printing error in the university's booklet on fees published on June 16 last year had resulted in the goof-up due to which the affiliated colleges collected Rs 1,000 as laboratory fee for every practical of science and home science faculties and professional courses.

Additionally, the colleges also collected Rs 600 for every arts faculty practical. In fact, the same fees were to be charged for all practicals collectively, but colleges levied it for every subject.

Shockingly, even after the February 4 notification issued to the colleges and several subsequent reminders from the university to refund the excess money, none of the colleges responded.

According to a senior university official, even after the Yeole panel submitted its report directing the university to act tough on the colleges failing to return money, its top bosses was yet to initiate action even after one year. The panel had submitted its report on May 4 directing the affiliated colleges to reimburse students before May 31. It also recommended penal action against erring colleges as students' money was at stake.

After the panel's recommendation, the university had even dispatched a fresh reminder to all affiliated institutions with a warning to immediately return the excess money or face strict action. After that, the issue went into the cold storage.

"We submitted our report long ago. The VC assured us that he would monitor the progress personally. He even drafted a letter stating that he will recommend strict action so that students get their refund before the end of the academic sessions," the official who didn't wish to be named told TOI.

The officials added that the VC had called a meeting of panel members as many as four times, but ended up postponing them at the last moment. "The entire episode made us feel disgusted. We also have other commitments. The VC called for a meeting and after we reached the university, we realised that he is out of station. Actually, after the committee's recommendations, there is no need to for VC to personally monitor the situation. But since he insisted, we were left with no other option," he stated.

Since no progress had been made, students were highly unlikely to get back their money. "Most of affiliated colleges belong to politicians and other prominent people of the city.

Therefore, the university is hesitating to take punitive action against these colleges," claimed the source.

Yeole panel's recommendations

* Colleges should refund students' money before May 31

* Take punitive action against erring colleges

* Develop a mechanism to recover money from affiliated colleges without depending on them

* A new committee to check if the money has reached the students or not

* The new panel should also ensure that such blunders do not happen