7 yrs on, Vigilance probe into Rs1,000-cr PTU scam begins

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 28

Seven years after a government employee-turned-RTI activist began exposing alleged financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore iin Punjab Technical University (PTU), the state Vigilance Bureau has finally started a probe into the matter.

On a plea by RTI activist Sadhu Ram Kusla of Bathinda about tracing the missing record of the university and inquiring into the multi-crore scandal, the state Information Commission early this month asked the Vigilance Bureau to look into the matter.

Acting on the orders by Information Commissioner Chander Parkash, DGP (Vigilance) Suresh Arora directed the SSP (Vigilance), Jalandhar, on August 25 to hold an in-depth inquiry into the matter as per points raised by Kusla. Vigilance sources said the statement of the RTI activist was recorded yesterday.

Kusla had been flagging the issue since he was a project officer with the Bathinda district administration. He moved the state Information Commission, seeking information under the RTI Act after it was denied to him by the university.

He faced threats and vigilance inquiries as he refused to keep quiet.

A vigilance official said Kusla pointed out many irregularities in the functioning of the university from 2005 to 2015. He alleged the fee collected from the students was pocketed and money generated from the sale of prospectuses misappropriated. He also alleged that 2,800 centres of the unviersity showed fake admissions, issued fake degrees, allowed illegal computer centres to function in the name of the university and allegedly destroyed the records pertaining to various irregularities.

Talking to The Tribune, Kusla said he was associated with six extension centres of the university in Bathinda as a project officer when he sniffed the scandal. “The scam grew bigger as I probed records of other centres. The first scam involved around Rs 76 lakh. PTU officials admitted there were some lapses, but said the loss was of Rs 17 lakh only. The amount was later reconciled to 34-36 lakh.”

He said he also found that a sum of Rs 35 crore earned from the sale of prospectuses was never deposited in the university account. “That is just one example. I have named officials who have turned millionaires. Someone is running a hotel, other a college and some others businesses, by misusing public money,” he alleged.

Kusla retired from the service in 2013. He pursued investigation making use of the RTI Act. He moved the State Information Commission early this year when the PTU denied him information. During the hearing of the case, it came to light that the record pertaining to allegations levelled by him was missing.