Corruption in Recruitment: Govt to take action against RU admin

The government is going to take action against some officials of Rajshahi University (RU) administration, including Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Chowdhury Md Zakaria and some of its teachers, in connection with different types of irregularities.

Education ministry on December 10 sent letters to RU’s seven officials and teachers to explain in seven working days why it will not take legal action against them for relaxing education qualifications for recruitment to the university.

The seven persons are Pro-VC Prof Dr Chowdhury Md Zakaria, Registrar Prof Abdul Bari, Deputy Registrar Shakhawat Hossain Tutul, Prof Mohammad Abdul Hannan of Law Department, Prof DM Mujibur Rahman of Physics Department, Assistant Prof Shibli Islam of Law Department and Assistant Prof Gazi Tohidur Rahman of Material Science and Engineering Department.

The ministry in a letter also asked RU VC Prof M Abdus Sobhan to explain in seven working days why the appointments of his daughter and son-in-law to the university as teachers will not be cancelled.

In another letter, the ministry also asked the vice-chancellor to take necessary steps to remove Prof Abdul Bari from the post of university registrar for not helping University Grants Commission (UGC) probe committee.

Besides, the education ministry in a separate order on December 10 postponed all kinds of recruitment at the RU until further notice.

The ministry came up with the move following a probe report submitted by UGC in October to the ministry regarding the corruption and irregularities in RU.

A three-member probe body led by UGC member Prof Dr Dil Afroza Begum found the proof of 25 allegations against the RU VC, Pro-VC and some other teachers.

The UGC recommended taking actions against the RU VC, Pro-VC Prof Chowdhury Md Zakaria and some others on charges of different irregularities in recruitment.

The UGC also suggested scrapping the appointment of 34 teachers, who were recruited at the university under the ‘relaxed university rules’.

The UGC found that the VC relaxed the recruitment rules to appoint the VC’s daughter Sanjana Sobhan at Tourism and Hospitality Management Department and son-in-law ATM Shahed Parvaj at Institute of Business Administration as lecturers.

Mentioning that VC’s such kinds of nepotism and irregularities tarnished the image of RU, the education ministry in an order asked the VC to explain in seven working days why the appointment of his daughter and son-in-law to the university will not be cancelled.

Mentioning that the RU counted a loss of Tk 5.61 lakh due to illegal occupation of a duplex building by RU VC Prof Abdus Sobhan, it ordered him to deposit the money to state exchequer immediately.

The ministry also asked the RU VC to cancel the recruitment policy-2017 and formulate a policy following the recruitment policies of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar and Chittagong Universities.

Seeking anonymity, a ministry official said UGC’s probe committee has made several recommendations regarding the RU’s irregularities. Various measures are being taken by the ministry following the recommendations of the UGC probe committee.

“As a part of this, various types of show cause and instruction letters have been sent to the officials and teachers of the university and legal action will be taken against all those involved within shortest time,” he added

Earlier, RU’s 62 teachers and two job-seekers on January 4 this year submitted an allegation to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Education Ministry, UGC and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) bringing allegations of corruption, nepotism, and recruitment business.

Later, the UGC formed a probe committee to probe the allegations The UGC submitted copies of the probe report to the education ministry, Anti-Corruption Commission and the Prime Minister’s Office on October 20.