Dept yet to act against erring professors

Lokayukta Police had submitted a report against the accused in February itself

In a letter to the Higher Education department, RTI activist, Sathyanarayan R N has urged the department to initiate action for the suspension of five professors of Bahadur Institute of Management Sciences (BIMS), University of Mysore (UoM).

The five professors include, Ayesha M Sharief, who is currently the chairperson of BIMS, S J Manjunth, B Shivaraj, D Anand and R Mahesh. The demand for the suspension pending inquiry was made following UoM’s delay in initiating action against the five, against whom a report was submitted by Lokayukta police in February 2014.

The five professors of BIMS have been accused of cheating the University Grants Commission (UGC), by forging their attendance details. The accused had marked themselves as present simultaneously, both at the varsity and other varsities where they had been deputed to evaluate answer sheets. RTI queries by activist Sathyanarayan had brought the matter to the fore, following which a Lokayukta probe was initiated.

The Lokayukta, which submitted its findings to the department on February 10, 2014, said that the documents proved the allegations, levelled against the professors. Allegations of misuse of power and cheating the UGC by forging attendance details at the varsity and varsities they were deputed to for evaluation has been prima facie found true.

Earlier order

An order by the department to UoM authorities on April 19, 2014, instructed the varsity to initiate an inquiry into the issue and take appropriate action, as per statutes of the varsity.

Sathyanarayan said that despite the order, little has been done to bring the erring professors to book.

“Allowing them to continue in service till the inquiry is complete will allow them to destroy the documents, which are important evidence against their wrong-doing. All the five professors, therefore, should be suspended from service, pending inquiry,” he said.

When contacted, C Basavraju, Registrar, University of Mysore, said that an inquiry commission has been constituted for the purpose.

“The committee was formed 20 days ago, following directions of the Higher Education department. It will submit a report with recommendations within the next month and a half,” he said.

He said that the varsity had collected documents regarding the alleged misdemeanour of the professors of BIMS, in order to corroborate the documents submitted by the complainant.