By TwoCircles.net News Desk,
New Delhi: Aligarh Muslim University has refuted allegations of financial irregularities against its Vice Chancellor Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis, and said the screaming headlines in a section of media of alleged probe order by HRD Ministry against the Vice Chancellor in the last four days is nothing but a media trial launched by some vested interests to malign the University and its Vice Chancellor.
“The question of financial irregularities simply does not arise when the highest and the most authentic audit body of the country, the CAG has given clean chit to AMU’s 2007-08 accounts. For the first time in the recent history of AMU there was no audit para from the CAG that bears testimony to transparent financial transactions maintained by the present regime,” said Dr Rahat Abrar, Public Relations Officer, AMU, in a statement to media.
He termed the hullabaloo in the media over the baseless allegations as a media trial to malign the university and the VC.
“The Muslim community in general and AMU community in particular is a worried lot. The mainstream newspapers are filing reports one after another implicating AMU in more than one way. The AMU Community is shocked to see the screaming headlines of the probe against the Vice Chancellor for the last four days. There appear to be a media trial launched by some vested interest to malign the University and its Vice Chancellor Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis. Although the University has not yet received in writing any communique from the MHRD about the so-called enquiry, already a media trial has reached its pinnacle,” Dr Abrar said.
Refuting the allegations of financial irregularities he said: “The dubious allegations of excess TA payment, excessive expenditure on the repair and renovation of the burnt VC lodge, payment of Income tax of VC and Registrar from the University fund, purchase of a new vehicle for VC’s use, buying furniture from Kerala, spending Crores for campus security etc are all frivolous because of the fact that every purchase and payment has been made within the permissible limits and in accordance with the existing rules of the University and the rules of the Government of India and the same has been documented by the University in its earlier response to the Ministry.”
Behind the latest malicious attack on the VC and AMU are some vested interests, Dr Abrar said.
“Prof. P.K. Abdul Azis has always complied with the Acts and statutes of the University in letter and spirit. AMU feels that any allegation in this regard will turn out to be a fallacy. The allegations of taking decisions in a meeting without quorum does not meet the acid test as complainants themselves tried to stifle the meeting. Since the complainants are vested groups and the complaint is motivated by extraneous considerations, certain faculty members of the university made counter allegations against their pursuits, indicating their past records and business interests involved in the university.
Group politics is a common factor of life in every organization. But the distinct attribute of the grouping in AMU is that ‘the greater the nuisance, the greater the gains’. The history of AMU is replete with instances when the previous Vice Chancellors have gone out of the way to ‘buy peace’ with them and those who dared to ignore had to face the fury in the form of protests, petitions and violence.”
The news of enquiry orders has sparked anxiety and sense of deep hurt among the well wishers of the University who have seen the University past from the most turbulent phase of its history in 2007 to a peaceful abode of vibrating academic activities under the leadership of the present Vice Chancellor. With the exception of the small group that launched the complaint and the vilification campaign against the Vice Chancellor everyone feels that at this juncture when the University is in a state of complete orderliness and expansion mode. Any enquiry will once again land the AMU in turmoil. The hard earned gains accomplished in the recent past, the academic vibrancy, the fresh research initiatives and the rule of law restored by the present regime will bound to collapse if the administration’s attention is diverted towards the probe, he further said.
Meanwhile, taking a tough posture against the enquiry order as reported in a section of media against the AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. P.K. Abdul Azis, the prominent Muslim leaders and intellectuals in a joint statement have termed it as extremely painful. The statement says that the allegations were leveled against the Vice Chancellor by a few vested interest EC members who always have their own nefarious designs to influence the Vice Chancellor. The have demanded revocation of the HRD Ministry order for the probe.
The signatories to the joint statement are: Secretary General of All India Milli Council Dr. Manzoor Alam, Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission, M. Kamal Farooqui, President, All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Dr. Zafraul Islam Khan, President, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Maulana Arshad Madani, Patron, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, Maulana Mahmood Madani, Secretary General, Jamat-e-Islami Hind, Mr. Nusrat Ali and Secretary General, Central Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, Dr. O. Khan.
A group of senior teachers are also of the view that if there is any reality in the constitution of an enquiry against the AMU Vice Chancellor, it must be revised on merit and rolled back on three important counts. First it is unprecedented as no central university has ever brought under such probe. Despite more serious allegations against the VC of Allahabad University similar action was not taken by MHRD. The allegations are baseless and likely to prove a mountain of a mole but in the process of an enquiry the AMU’s hard earned image will take a severe beating thereby causing great injury to the sentiments of the minority community. The chief complainants are a vested group with commercial stake and doubtful credentials, and hence deserved to be ignored.