Action sought against UoP VC, others

PUNE: A plea seeking disciplinary action against the University of Pune (UoP) vice-chancellor (VC) and other officials for allegedly stalling information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and “ignoring” the State Information Commissioner’s (SIC) order, has been moved before the SIC by former UoP senate member Atul Bagul.
The action has been sought on the grounds that despite the SIC’s order of February 4 directing the UoP to provide a copy of the justice (retd) J A Patil report to Bagul, the university has failed to implement the order, citing confidentiality.The report refers to the departmental inquiry proceeding that was launched by UoP in the admission scam involving the quota for Persons of Indian Origin (PIO).
The scam relates to alleged irregularities in letting Indian passport-holding students secure a ‘backdoor entry’ to higher and professional courses through the quota marked for PIO students. These admissions were effected between 2002 and 2007 by UoP’s International Students Centre (ISC), which is the nodal agency for all foreign admissions at the university and its affiliated institutions.
The then UoP VC Narendra Jadhav had assigned a four-member committee of the university management council, led by Sunanda Pawar, to probe the matter. The probe panel indicted the then ISC director Shantishree Pandit. The university went on to charge sheet Pandit for a departmental inquiry by justice (retd) J A Patil, who has since submitted his report. However, the university has shown no inclination for making the justice Patil report public.
On March 21, 2010, the then officiating VC Arun Adsool informed the UoP senate that the report won’t be made public unless an ongoing audit of the ISC was completed.
The UoP had hired services of a Mumbai-based external auditor to examine the financial transactions of the ISC between 2002 and 2007. The auditor started work on the same, but gave up midway through and the university is since on the look out for another auditor to complete the audit.
Bagul initially moved a plea before the UoP’s information officer A V Chavan seeking a copy of the justice Patil inquiry report. The same was rejected by Chavan, prompting Bagul to move the appellate authority and UoP registrar M L Jadhav. Once again, his plea was rejected on the grounds that the information sought was confidential and would impact further inquiry process.
Bagul then moved the SIC, which passed a detailed order on February 4 observing that the inquiry by justice Patil and the ongoing financial audit of the ISC were independent activities. The SIC said that the UoP authorities have not justified as to how making the Patil report public would impact the audit work or, for that matter, action relating to the probe. “Keeping the report away from the public cannot be justified,” the SIC order stated.
In his latest plea to the SIC, moved on April 15, Bagul has pointed out the UoP has once again maintained that the information sought by him cannot be disclosed as the same was confidential and an inquiry was going on. A copy of the report can be given to him only after the inquiry process is over, the UoP reply stated. Bagul has described this as clearly ignoring the SIC order.