Pondicherry University rebuts charges against VC, finance officer, retired director

PUDUCHERRY: Pondicherry University registrar in-charge Rajneesh Bhutani has rebutted the news published against vice-chancellor Gurmeet Singh in connection with the Madras high court ordering the CBI to probe into the misappropriation of funds to a tune of Rs 2.25 crore following a petition by Democratic youth federation of India president A Anand. Bhutani said a defamation suit was filed against Anand for levelling baseless allegations against the university authorities.The suit is awaiting hearing.
“This is in response to the news published in the media that an order has been passed by the Honorable high court of Madras ordering the Central bureau of investigation to register a complaint against vice chancellor Gurmeet Singh, finance officer in-charge D Lazar, retired professor and former director of human resource development centre S Hariharan based on a petition by Anand. Anand has filed the petition deliberately without impleading Pondicherry University or any of its officers as respondents so that he can get along with suppression and misrepresentation of material facts,” said Bhutani in the rebuttal.
He said as soon as the high court passed the order, the university’s senior counsel briefed the court that Anand has suppressed and misinterpreted material facts. The petition was based on half-baked information. The viewpoint of the university was never heard before arriving at this judgment. The CBI had sought sanction only against Hariharan for investigating unto certain procedural lapses made by him when he was the director between 2008 and 2016 but no prima facie material to establish any kind of bribery or corruption against any other officer of university was found out, he said.
Moreover, the central vigilance commission had already examined the same issue threadbare and had closed the complaint without any adverse inference. The high court order had been made without impleading relevant parties such as the Union government and Pondicherry University. Even the records related to this case from university were not considered. However, the high court permitted the university to file its petition following which the university filed relevant petitions with facts and figures supported by documents.
He said the university has already filed a defamation suit against Anand for levelling baseless allegations against the university authorities. “It is also pointed out that the news item in the press contains material which are not part of the order made by the high court but conveys the misinterpretation of the same by certain disgruntled elements with vested interests out of which misleading facts, defamatory and derogatory in nature against the vice chancellor and finance officer have been inserted in the news item,” he said.
He said the petition filed by the university in the high court seeking relief is likely to be taken up at any point of time.