Gauhati High Court orders probe into 4 top universities of Assam for 200 crore financial scam

Gauhati High Court orders probe regarding financial scams in various universities of Assam. The scams have been more than Rs 200 Cr and have caused confusion.

Debanjan ChamlagainMarch 3, 2023

In a significant development, new corruption and scam incident has been reported in the most reputed institutes of the state of Assam. The Gauhati High Court has initiated to probe into four prestigious universities of the state which include Tezpur University, Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University, and the Assam Agricultural University.

As per reports, the Gauhati High Court has ordered an investigation into the whole matter by the Anti-Corruption and Monitoring Branch. This is not the first time that financial scams have been reported in universities in the state. Though there has not been any major reaction by authorities and the government regarding the issue, the incident itself has created confusion among the students as well as the faculty members of the universities.

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What is the main issue?

The investigation order from Gauhati High Court regarding the financial scam is a very serious issue as compared to other scams in the state. Earlier, this financial scam regarding anomalies had been reported by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). CAG in its report highlighted that a huge amount which is more than 200 crores of Rupees of government funds or public money, were allotted to these Universities under various schemes and policies for the purpose of development (infrastructure as well as educational facilities) of the respective Universities have been intentionally misused.

Recently, the Amguri Navnirman Samiti, an NGO of Ambari, Guwahati filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Gauhati High Court, and the court has now asked for an investigation of the same. The main issue in all four Universities was related to a huge financial scam committed during the utilization of government/ public funds allotted to:

Assam Agricultural University (State), Jorhat for the financial year 2010-2011, 2011-12 to 2015-16
Gauhati University for the financial year 2012-2013, 2013-14, 2014-15 to 2017-18
Dibrugarh University for the financial year 2008-09 to 2010-2011, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15
Tezpur University for the period from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018.

Gauhati University Institute of Distance & Open Learning (IDOL) Scam

Gauhati University (GU) has already faced such cases regarding financial fraud earlier. The report of the GU’s Institute of Distance & Open Learning (IDOL) Scam was based on the CAG report which was released in 2017. The GU authorities were providing more than 20 courses through IDOL which were not approved by University Grants Commission (UGC). More than 70,000 students have received fake course certificates for 5-6 years.

This was the ₹40 crore financial scam that was reported. Earlier in October 2021, GU had suspended, former IDOL Director Kandarpa Das for his alleged involvement in the IDOL scam. During that period, the report was sent by Pallab Bhattacharya on a one-to-one commission. On Saturday, the Disciplinary Punishment Commission submitted its report on the ₹40 crore financial scam.