The Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE) has said that the charity commissioner and the police should conduct an inquiry into the financial irregularities by the management of the Vasantdada Patil Engineering College following the revelation that it had taken loans in the name of its employees without their knowledge to the tune of Rs 1.3 crore. The DTE in its letter to the Mumbai University and College Teachers Union (MUCTA), which has been pursuing the issue, said that the college had failed to give satisfactory replies during inquiries and hence the matter should be taken up with the charity and police commissioner.
According to a spokesperson of MUCTA, they had been pursuing the issue of financial frauds being conducted by the institute with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the DTE for the past three to four years. “The management has flouted various rules and norms and has been misleading the authorities by submitting false information. We brought it to the attention of the authorities after which inquiries were held by the DTE,” said the spokesperson.
During the inquiries a DTE official said that the college did not provide adequate and satisfactory answers and following the statements of four aggrieved employees it was found that the management had involved in not only financial but even ethical irregularities. “The college has misled the authorities and has also done wrong with its employees by taking loans in their names without their knowledge and has not deposited the amounts due to the employees in their provident fund accounts for the past couple of years. Based on the inquiries conducted by the University of Mumbai’s committee, the DTE committee and proof submitted by MUCTA, the MSBTE feels that the issue should be brought to the notice of the charity commissioner and the police commissioner for initiation of penal and civil action against the college management,” said the letter signed by Dr Abhay Wagh, director of MSBTE.
