Pune: Legal Action Initiated Against SP, Fergusson, Garware & Modern College Over Audit Negligence, Court Orders Police Inquiry

Pune: Non-government colleges that receive aid of more than Rs 25 lakh grant from the state government have to mandatorily conduct audits by the audit team of the Auditor General. Despite this, reputed colleges such as Modern College, and S.P College are yet to conduct audits. Pune-based lawyers Abhishek Haridas and Ulhas Kamlakar Agnihotri have filed a suit in the court against the Director of Higher Education, Shailendra Devlankar, principles of Fergusson, Garware, Modern, S. P college. The court has ordered a police inquiry into the case. Since some of the accused are outside the jurisdiction of the court, the court has ordered a probe by the Chaturshringi police station.

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Grants are given to non-government colleges in the state by the state higher education department. Most of the college grants are in the range of crores of rupees. However, it has been made mandatory for colleges to conduct an audit by the auditor general's audit team to check whether colleges receiving government grants have made proper use of the grants. In this work, the administrative officer of the office of the joint director has been entrusted with the responsibility of determining the grants of the colleges, while the joint director has been entrusted with the responsibility of distribution of grants.

In grant determination, expenditures on acceptable matters and expenditures on unacceptable matters are examined. Expenses on unacceptable matters are deducted in the next grant and an adjusted amount is paid. However, the co-directors continued to provide annual grants without recovering the unacceptable aspects of colleges such as Fergusson and Garware. Fergusson College has recovered crores of rupees, while Modern College, S.P. College has not conducted an audit for years. Garware College has a recovery of lakhs of rupees. The co-directors of these colleges continued to provide annual grants without recovering previous unacceptable matters, and despite being in control of the process, the directors have overlooked the matter for years, said Dr Abhishek Haridas.