In U-turn, VC says no misappropriation in chai paani scam

Nagpur: In a complete U-turn, Nagpur University administration has now declined any misappropriation in chai paani scam at its academic and other sections.
Even after probe panel under LIT director Raju Mankar confirming the massive embezzlement worth crores, vice chancellor SP Kane told TOI that employees from NU’s academic section submitted corrected bills of lakhs amount spent on tea and coffee, which they earlier failed to a submit before the panel.
The panel was constituted by VC himself after a series of TOI reports exposed how members from the academic section submitted allegedly fake handwritten bills of Rs1.5 lakh on tea and coffee consumption by handful of NU’s board of studies (BOS) members in just three days. Same officials had consumed mineral water of staggering Rs24,000 in the same period.
“Since NU didn’t actually pay the bills from its treasury, it’s not at loss. When the panel quizzed employees on the bills, they failed to submit corrected bills. Now, they have come out with corrected ones. There was a loophole in the entire process which was later corrected that led to clearing of confusion on funds misappropriation,” Kane told TOI.
NU officials made another startling revelation that the employees from the academic section, in cahoots with a boy working with the nearby tea stall owner, used to inflate the bills and submit it to finance and accounts department. “It was a routine practice for them. As no one took objection for all these years, their greed grew and they increased the amount to unbelievable levels, which led the scam coming to fore. After TOI expose, the boy fled to his native place in North India, while the clerk who cleared the bills also went abroad,” they said.
Without naming anyone, the Mankar-led panel had pointed fingers on the entire chain of employees in the academic section from top to bottom of having allegedly involved in the scam. It failed to recommend any strong measures like lodging of police complaint, under apparent pressure from a lobby, which were making all out efforts to save the guilty officials. The panel failed to specify total amount of misappropriated funds and also to fix responsibility on particular officials. It only suggested “legal action” without any specifications, as per officials.
The VC also blamed panel members for failure in coming up with strong recommendations. “I have accepted the panel’s report as it is. Had it suggested any action, I would have acted accordingly,” he said.
Administrative problems in registrar’s interviews: VC
Breaking his long silence on vacant registrar’s post that wasn’t filled up for over 10 months even after two advertisements and spending over Rs5 lakh, vice chancellor SP Kane clarified that there were some “administrative” problems in the process. NU had received about 20 applications for the post. “I am trying my best to conduct the interviews before I demit office next month. After this week’s Senate meeting, I will try my best to fill up the post,” he told TOI.