Fraud case against ex VC of Tamil University

THANJAVUR: The vigilance and anti-corruption police here have registered cases under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2018 against former vice-chancellor of Tamil University Dr G. Baskaran and three others, for appointing 10 professors and 11 associate professors, without following regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and government orders, and filling the entire strength of vacant posts in direct recruitment without allotting 75 per cent of the posts by promotion under CAS.

An FIR has been filed by Inspector Venkatesan, Vigilance and Anti-corruption, on November 14.  

The FIR has been filed against G. Baskaran, son of Ganapathy, former vice-chancellor of the Tamil University, during the period August 6, 2015 to August 8, 2018, Dr. S. Muthukumar, son of T. P. Sankranarayanan, former registrar of the university, G. Sakthi Saravanan, son of Ganesan, former PA to registrar and N. Baskaran, son of Narayanaswamy Naidu, former director of distance education.

According to the FIR, Tamil University advertised on January 4, 2017, for appointment of three professors and five associate professors in SC/ST category, 20 professors and nine associate professors in the general category. But selection and interview were not conducted. Again on April 26, 2017, the university advertised for appointment of the above posts, and also for additional two professors and three associate professors in SC/ST category, and two professors and one associate professor in the general category (total 27 professors and 18 associate professors).

For the 45 teaching posts, 23 posts were selected by conducting interview, while 22 were selected for not conducting interviews, as “no qualified applications was received for those posts.”

The FIR said that former vice-chancellor G. Baskaran, as chairman of the selection committee colluded with the selection committee members, adopted fraudulent activities, and appointed 10 professors and 11 associate professors in the month of May 2017, without following UGC regulations and government orders. It also said that the former vice-chancellor criminally conspired during interviews between May 29, 2017 and May 31, 2017, selected ineligible candidates with lesser teaching experience and lesser marks, contrary to UGC norms and guidelines.

The FIR also said that Baskaran attempted to obtain illegal gratification other than legal remuneration for himself from five persons for himself for appointing to the post of professors. The FIR said that Rs 15 lakh to Rs 40 lakh were received as illegal gratification.

It also said that violating the statute of the Tamil University, he appointed as many as 70 persons as daily wagers for whom the university is paying from government funds and from distance education department and thus caused loss to the university.

Cases have been filed against the four persons under Sections 120 (B), 409, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of IPC and under sections 7, 13(1)(c) 13(1) (D), read with 13(2) of Prevention of corruption (Amendment Act) 2018.