Osmania University secretary under scanner

Hyderabad: The State Eligibility Test division of Osmania University is a hub of financial irregularities. The audit department of Telangana has found a large number of irregularities between November 1, 2011 and August 31, 2015 when Prof. B. Rajeswara Reddy was member secretary.

The vice-chancellor was appointed as chairman of SET and the position was occupied by three people, Prof. S. Satyanarayana, Vikas Raj, IAS and the present in-charge VC, Ranjeev R. Acharya who is also principal secretary of higher education.

The audit clearly blamed all these officials for not keeping tabs on the SET division’s administrative and financial matters resulting in complete derailment of administration and loss of funds. During his tenure, the member secretary spent Rs 17.17 crore for which the audit team found no records.

The audit observed that several administrative financial decisions were taken by Prof. Reddy in his personal capacity without approval from either the SET chairman or the registrar of Osmania University.

Prof. Reddy sanctioned an extra ‘remuneration’ of Rs 7,27,500 for himself even though he was a salaried full time employee at SET Division. In 2012 and 2013, the SET division paid Rs 2,220 per piece for 2,220 trunk boxes for confidential transportation of question papers.

However, after the exam the boxes were sold as scrap at throwaway prices of Rs 112.50 in 2012 and Rs 80 in 2013 per piece rather than reusing them resulting in a loss of around Rs 3.5 crore. New boxes were bought next year at a price of Rs 2,220 per piece again.

Creation of posts without sanction, deciding remuneration of supporting staff, payments made to outsourcing agencies, illegal appointments and printing of forms without inviting quotations are other examples. The audit was conducted in from September 5 to October 31 this year and 60 days have been given for replying about 45 irregularities.
 

 

 

Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.