Govt. initiates special audit of 12 DU colleges

An eight-member team to investigate allegations of financial irregularities; DU panel had earlier given clean chit to the Delhi govt.-funded institutions

The Delhi government has initiated a special audit to investigate allegations of financial irregularities at 12 Delhi University (DU)-affiliated colleges fully funded by it.

The Directorate of Audit has constituted an eight-member team to undertake the exercise and asked the Directorate of Higher Education to instruct the colleges to make all necessary records available, according to an order issued on September 27.

The action came over a month after a 10-member DU panel constituted to look into the allegations gave a clean chit to the colleges.

Last December, Chief Minister Atishi had, as the Education Minister, written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, citing “several serious irregularities and procedural lapses involving hundreds of crores” in the colleges.

AAP govt.’s stand

Ms. Atishi had suggested that the Centre either direct the university to disaffiliate the 12 colleges, following which the Delhi government would bring them under its control, or that the colleges remain affiliated with DU with the Centre taking full responsibility of funding them.

However, the university had said that any attempt to disaffiliate these colleges from it would be “neither legally justified” nor in the interest of their students and staff members.

It had also urged the government for the timely release of funds to the colleges.

The 12 institutions that have been fully funded by the Delhi government are Acharya Narendra Dev College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita College, Bhaskaracharya College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Maharshi Valmiki College, Shaheed Rajguru College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.

Published - October 01, 2024 12:57 am IST