Even as Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Tamil Nadu, who is also the Chancellor of Universities in the State suspended A Ganapathi, the Vice-Chancellor of Bharatiyar University, who was arrested on charges of taking bribe from a job seeker, Prof M Anandakrishnan, eminent educationist and former Governing council chairman of IIT Kanpur has put the DMK and the AIADMK in the defensive by a startling disclosure.
Ganapathi was caught red-handed by the sleuths of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Friday last while accepting Rs 30 lakh as bribe from an applicant for the post of an assistant professor in the university. Dharmaraj, head of the department of chemistry, who played the role of a deal maker was also arrested. While the duo has been remanded to judicial custody, the Department of Higher Education sent a report to the Governor about the incident which led to the suspension of the vice-chancellor.
The AIADMK as well as the opposition DMK , which demanded a thorough probe by the CBI into all the appointments made by the present AIADMK Government have been put on the defensive by Prof M Anandakrishnan, himself a former vice-chancellor of the Anna University and a widely respected educationist in the country.
“All vice-chancellors who were appointed during the last ten years had to pay crores of rupees as bribes to the powers that be for getting the job. This has been happening for quite some time. Whoever offers more cash stand to get the post,” said Anandakrishnan while speaking to journalists here on Wednesday.
He said the crores of rupees dished out by vice-chancellor candidates would be recouped by them while appointing faculty members and other staff.
“There is lot of money to be made through other deals also. Purchasing of materials for the university, constriction of buildings, repair and maintenance all offer enough scope for them to recover the amount they paid to the politicians for getting their posts,” said Anandakrishnan , who had been the chairman of IIT Kanpur .
Anandakrishnan was eased out as the chairman of Tamil Nadu’s Science City by the then DMK Government in 2010 when he came out with charges of corruption in the appointment of vice-chancellors in the State.
Meanwhile, the DVAC team probing the case is investigating the online money transfers made by nearly 60 staff members in the University who were appointed during the tenure of Ganapathi. Investigators are probing the possibilities of the persons who paid bribe to the suspended vice-chancellor making use of the Real Time Gross Settlement Fund transfer facility from the respective bank accounts.