73 court cases filed against VNSGU during Gupta’s tenure

Surat: As many as 73 cases have been filed against Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU) in different courts since 2017 after the now ex-vice chancellor, Shivendra Gupta, took charge of the university.
The university has spent over Rs 15 lakh in legal fees during Gupta’s tenure that ended on Sunday according to VNSGU records.
A syndicate member has decided to approach court with demand to recover the money from those VNSGU officials allegedly responsible for the litigations against the university.
On Sunday, when questioned, Gupta refused to answer why so many cases were filed against the university during his term. He refused to comment on who was responsible for the spending of Rs 15 lakh of public money in court cases.
“This is the highest number of court cases filed against the university in such a short time. All the cases are filed by teachers and trusts that run colleges affiliated to VNSGU,” said a senior teacher on condition of anonymity.
“The tenure under Gupta was the worst period of VNSGU in 50 years of its history. I am going to approach the court to recover the salary from Gupta and other financial losses of public money due to his (Gupta’s) unlawful decisions,” said Sanjay Desai, a syndicate member.
Desai claimed that Gupta paid the fees to lawyers without getting approval of the university syndicate.
Among other controversies that mired the university included signing MOU with a private sport management training institute for sport management courses. Gupta had also appointed Hirnesh Bhavsar, an employee of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), as in-charge registrar, but had to send him back after the state government reprimanded him.
He was the first VC of VNSGU, whose appointment and qualifications are under challenge in two separate cases in Gujarat High Court. Over 15 complaints have been filed with the state government against Gupta within two years of his appointment over various issues.