UGC orders audit of 10 central universities

Each committee will audit two universities and submit a report in a month.

The UGC has ordered an audit of 10 central universities at the behest of the HRD Ministry to probe complaints of financial, administrative and academic irregularities.

The higher education regulator set up five committees on April 25 to conduct an “academic, research, financial and infrastructure audit” of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Pondicherry University, Allahabad University, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand, Central University of Jharkhand, Central University of Rajasthan, Central University of Jammu, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha, University of Tripura and Hari Singh Gour University in MP.

Each committee will audit two universities and submit a report in a month.

AMU and the Pondicherry University will be inspected by a panel with IIT Madras professor Shripad Karmalkar, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University VC Kailash Sodani, Guwahati University professor Mazhar Asif and professor Sankarshan Basu of IIM Bangalore as members.

Indian Council of Philosophical Research chairman S R Bhatt, Delhi University professor Muneesh Kumar, management expert Rakesh Mohan Joshi, professor Ganesh Kumar N of IIM Indore and retired bureaucrat Vijay Kumar Gupta have been asked to audit the central universities of Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

Audit reports of Allahabad University and Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University will be submitted by a panel
comprising Gautam Desiraju of IISc Bangalore, DU professor Prakash Singh, JNU professor Amita Singh and professor G. Sabarinathan of IIM Bangalore, among others.

The Central University of Jammu, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, the University of Tripura and Hari Singh Gour University will be inspected similarly by two panels.