Minister Atishi orders inquiry against 12 DU colleges for misusing govt funds; asks officials to take strong action

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Atishi on Saturday directed the secretary (higher education) to conduct an inquiry into the alleged irregularities of government-funded Delhi University's 12 colleges.
«Major procedural irregularities have surfaced.

The colleges appointed a staggering 1,897 employees, 939 teaching and 958 non-teaching posts, without the Delhi government's approval, violating clearly established government procedures and rules,» she said.
Atishi directed the secretary to identify and take strong action against the principals and officials responsible for creating illegal posts, including recovering salaries since 2015 of illegally appointed staff members.

«These colleges are funded by the public exchequer and, therefore, must be held accountable for any misuse of funds,» she said.

«Contracts worth crores for security and sanitation work were executed without adhering to General Financial and violated accounting norms and the approved „Pattern of Assistance“ by the Delhi government,» she said.

Claims of Minister Atishi:
In a letter to the Centre in December last year, Delhi Education Minister Atishi had flagged alleged financial irregularities in 12 colleges affiliated to DU.
Quoting a special audit report conducted in 2020 on six of the twelve colleges, Atishi said that there have been numerous instances of «grave irregularities and procedural lapses» of the «highest levels» in expenditure exceeding hundreds of crores.

«Despite these issues, only University of Delhi has the authority to address them.

The colleges received substantial annual grants exceeding Rs 300 crore, which are the public exchequer's funds, making the Delhi government's accountable. Hence, Delhi Government will only fund these colleges until they are affiliated