The central government has ordered a probe into allegations of financial bungling at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Rohtak, and the concealment of vital information about the academic qualification of director Dheeraj Sharma.
An order passed in this regard by the ministry of education on March 5 was produced before the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Friday by the additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain. As per the order, the President of India, who is also “Visitor of the institute” and holds powers in this regard, has given three months’ time to IIM Mumbai director professor Manoj Tiwari to complete the probe and submit a report to the Centre.
The probe is mainly about the tenure of Sharma, which started in 2017. Sharma is also facing allegations that his bachelor’s degree is in second division, whereas the requirement for the post of director was of first division.
His first term as the IIM-Rohtak director came to an end on February 9, 2022, and in the same year he got a second term on February 28. In the petition filed in 2019 by one Amitava Chaudhary, his appointment was challenged. According to the allegations, at the time of appointment, he had concealed the fact that his bachelor’s degree was in the second division, whereas the requirement for the same was of the first division. The government acknowledged the lapse in 2022, and he was issued a show-cause notice, seeking an explanation as to why necessary administrative action should not be taken against him for “deliberately concealing material information” about his academic qualification at the time of his appointment.
The order issued on March 5 reads that an inquiry conducted by principal chief controller of accounts, ministry of education found “serious irregularities and grave misappropriation of public funds at the institute”. These include wrongfully inflating financial health of the institute and using such manipulated figures to pay huge amount of variable pay (more than ₹1 crore for each year) to the director (Sharma) for the years 2018-19 onwards.
{{/usCountry}}The order issued on March 5 reads that an inquiry conducted by principal chief controller of accounts, ministry of education found “serious irregularities and grave misappropriation of public funds at the institute”. These include wrongfully inflating financial health of the institute and using such manipulated figures to pay huge amount of variable pay (more than ₹1 crore for each year) to the director (Sharma) for the years 2018-19 onwards.
{{/usCountry}}It further says general financial rules-2017 were violated in managing the finances and procurement at the institute and gifting phones and other inducements to unnamed persons. The order also reads that Sharma was the director during the said period and his degree certificate was sought by the ministry repeatedly during his first term in 2017-2022 but was not sent by the institute till the fag end of his tenure.
The inquiry officer has been asked to probe commission and omission of acts in respect to various irregularities, the method of storing and verifying the academic degree certificates and other certificates of director, other faculty members/ officials and the procedure followed and decision makers involved in sending/ withholding replies to matters/ queries raised by the ministry. The inquiry officer has been asked to point out lapses and suggest remedial measures to avoid repeat of similar situations in future.