Punjabi University: Retd judge submits report in UGC scholarship fund scam

Ravneet Singh

Patiala, August 25

A retired judge, who was probing the UGC research scholarship grant scam allegedly of Rs 14 crore of Punjabi University Patiala, has submitted his findings to the university.

The retired judge’s report is now sitting at the university’s Vice Chancellor Prof Arvind’s desk for action.

Prof Arvind said the retired judge had submitted his report to the university. “I have received it. I have not gone through it yet. We will soon initiate action as per its findings.”

With the submission, action could soon be initiated against those individuals found guilty of misappropriation of funds in the multi-crore scam in which employees allegedly faked signatures, created fake bills and committed fraud by depositing the UGC research scholarship-related funds into various bank accounts of insiders as well as outsiders.

The scam was first detected in 2012 just after the arrival of Vice Chancellor Arvind. What began from a few suspected fake bills soon spiralled into scores of fake bills generated in the names of fake and former research scholars. The university had initially pegged the extent of the scam to Rs 6 lakh, but with the passage of time, the estimated bungling escalated to over Rs 14 crore.

The university had carried out its own internal probe in the matter. Later the matter was handed over to the Police Department as well. The university also suspended a few employees apart from terminating the services of others.

The university then submitted the matter to a retired judge to investigate and submit a report.