President gives green signal to the inquiry against Zameeruddin Shah
President gives green signal to the inquiry against Zameeruddin Shah:- President Pranab Mukherjee has recently agreed to the Human Resource Development Ministry’s proposal in order to launch an inquiry into allegations of some financial and administrative impropriety against Aligarh Muslim University Vice-Chancellor Zameeruddin Shah.
Mukherjee’s decision comes within a week of approving a probe, which is against Allahabad University V-C R L Hangloo. Shah is the seventh central university V-C to come under this scanner even since the NDA government took charge in 2014.
The HRD Ministry had dispatched a file to Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking a probe into the allegations of financial, administrative and academic irregularities against Shah.
Allegations against Aligarh Muslim University vice-chancellor Zameeruddin Shah
- Illegal transfer of funds collected from students from the university account to the account of the private trust which is named Sir Syed Educational Foundation.
- Appointment of some ineligible candidates. Assistant professors were appointed against the vacant position of professor and associate professor.
- Appointment of a retired brigadier as the university’s pro V-C, even though the UGC regulations mandate that the position be occupied by a professor. His appointment was done by the V-C by further invoking his emergency powers.
- Collapsing the law and order on campus.
Reportedly, Shah has written to the President on October 4, stating that the attempts were being made to tie him down in a web of deceit and that his detractors feel that the best way to do this is to accuse him of being corrupt. He has also named former Rajya Sabha MP and ex-member of AMU executive council Wasim Ahmad as one of the people who are trying to sully his image.
“I have nothing to fear from an inquiry. It will, however, provide ammunition to the detractors in their efforts to weaken my position,” he said in his letter to the President.
The HRD Ministry is further expected to first issue a showcause to the V-C, which will seek an explanation on why an inquiry should not be instituted to look into the complaints of financial, administrative and academic irregularities. If dissatisfied with the response, the HRD Ministry will launch a formal probe.
