Governor sacks agri varsity Board member for fudging travel bills

His continuation is not in the interest of varsity: Bhardwaj

A member of the Board of Management of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, has been dismissed from the Board for making a false travel allowance (TA) claim.

According to highly placed sources, Governor H R Bhardwaj, who is also the Chancellor of UAS, has issued an order removing Dr Challaiah from the Board despite the latter confessing to his mistake and tendering an apology. 

Challaiah was appointed as a member of the Board in May 2010, by the Governor under the category of eminent educationist as provided under Section 12 (2) (ix) of the University of Agricultural Sciences Act, 2009.

For one of the meetings of the Board, Challaiah, who is a resident of Bangalore, had claimed taxi charges from Bangalore to Raichur. But some one complained that the member had made a false claim, as he had travelled by train to attend the meeting. 

Following this, a notice was issued to Challaiah seeking an explanation. An inquiry revealed that Challaiah had indeed travelled by train in a second class sleeper coach and had falsely claimed travel charges stating he had travelled by taxi. The university authorities had obtained information from the South Central Railway authorities to support their findings.

V-C admits

In his explanation to the Vice-Chancellor, Challaiah admitted that he had made a false TA claim and apologised for it. Accordingly, the V-C sent a report to the Governor. But, the Governor did not take it lightly and decided to initiate extreme action against him and opined that “his continuation as a member of the BoM was not in the best interest of the university.”

Exercising his powers under Section 12 (3) of the University of Agricultural Sciences Act, 2009, read with Section 16 of the Karnataka General Clauses Act, 1899, the Governor ordered the removal of Challaiah from the Board by withdrawing the pleasure of the Chancellor.