Nagpur/Mumbai: Maharashtra Higher Education Minister Chandrakant Patil said on Tuesday that the government had submitted to Chancellor Ramesh Bais the Vijay Baviskar Committee report, which allegedly indicted Nagpur University Vice-Chancellor Subhash Chaudhari and other senior officials for awarding a contract to MKCL without floating tenders, and it was pending with him.
Replying to a query by MLC Pravin Datke in the Legislative Council, the Minister said Bais, also Maharashtra Governor, had started taking some action on the report, as per the information he had received from the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday.
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“Being the appointing authority, only the Chancellor can remove the VC and his subordinates as per Section 11(14)(D) of the Maharashtra Public Universities (MPU) Act, 2016,” Patil said.
Datke, who had raised the issue in the budget session in March too, questioned Patil on the delay regarding action. “The report clearly stated that norms were flouted while awarding tender to MKCL. Even the PWD probe found that NU administration had awarded contracts without floating tenders (mandatory as per the Accounts Code),” he said.
When Patil said that no payments were made to MKCL since 2016, the Nagpur BJP President pointed out that he had submitted proof that payments were made to the Pune firm till its ouster. “Various illegalities were committed by the VC and team while awarding contracts for building works, housekeeping and for appointing security guards, where blacklisted companies were roped in. Due to inaction, NU has now floated a new tender, which would again favour MKCL,” Datke said.
Patil said he and Principal Secretary Vikas Rastogi visited NU on receiving complaints, and after terminating MKCL’s contract, they constituted the Deputy Secretary Baviskar panel. The Baviskar report indicted Chaudhari for clearing Rs1.37 crore dues to MKCL, which were stopped by earlier administration under then VC SP Kane.
Adv Abhijeet Wanjari pointed out, “Apart from the MKCL issue, there are some matters wherein the Minister should look personally. While conducting senate meetings the administration has violated all the rules. These and other matters should be enquired thoroughly.” Another member Satish Chavan too participated in the discussion.
