MU best employee is man who put its ₹140cr in tottering bank

MU best employee is man who put its ₹140cr in tottering bank

Hemali.Chhapia@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:  19.07.2020

The University of Mumbai has conferred the best employee award on an officer against whom it is conducting an inquiry of financial mismanagement for depositing Rs 140 crore of the varsity in Yes Bank five days before the financial institution collapsed.

In the last concluded senate meeting of February-March, the matter was flagged off by Supriya Karande, who questioned the decision of the varsity to park funds with a bank that had failed.

A committee to inquire into the investment was set up and the members had submitted their findings and demanded that the officer, Rajendra Ambawade, be suspended and an inquiry be set up against him.

Ambawade, who is deputy registrar, declined to comment. “I am not allowed to speak to the media,” he said.

A university spokesperson said the inquiry was not yet completed.

“The inquiry is still on and if the charges pressed against Ambawade are found to be indeed correct, the award will be taken back,” the spokesperson said.

The matter in question is the large fixed deposit investment of the public university with Yes Bank, and the inquiry committee found that university finance officers claimed ignorance about the Yes Bank stock movement from Rs 245 to Rs 25 in a year at the time when ther investment was made.

Among the private banks approved to make investments, Yes Bank does not figure in the list. Section officers could not produce any document authorising them to invest in Yes Bank as previously no business was transacted with it, said a member of the committee.

As a public university, preference is also given to nationalised banks for depositing excess money.

Professor D P Mehta, chancellor’s nominee to the senate, said: “The inquiry committee has investigated the matter and submitted a report but no action has been taken so far. The members who were selecting officers for the award should have been apprised about the charges levelled against Ambawade by the inquiry panel and the award should not have morally been given to him.”

Chancellor’s nominee in the senate Sudhakar Tamboli said the employee was named in the first draft of the committee report, which was submitted to the university in March. “The inquiry was still on. If the university does not want to honour the committee’s findings, what is the point of setting up such an inquiry committee?” Tamboli said.