Education minister meets Guv amid flying graft charges against VCs

The minister said he was satisfied with the assurance from the Governor that “proper legal action would be taken against whoever is found guilty in the probe”.

Bihar education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Saturday called on Governor Phagu Chouhan, who also happens to be the Chancellor of state universities, amid allegations of corruption against top officials of varsities.

Bihar Education Minister Vijay Choudhary meets Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhawan in Patna on Saturday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The minister said there was discussion with the Governor on the state of affairs in state universities and recent developments pointing to administrative issues, especially the corruption charges levelled by Maulana Mazharul Haq Arabic and Persian University vice chancellor Md Qudus against Lalit Narayan Mithila University (LNMU) VC SP Singh.

“I apprised him of the stand of the chief minister and the education department with regard to corruption issues in detail. The CM has written to the Governor for probe into the allegations and a copy was also sent to the department. The Governor listened to everything patiently and assured to get the matter thoroughly examined so that action could be taken against the guilty,” Choudhary said.

The minister said he was satisfied with the assurance from the Governor that “proper legal action would be taken against whoever is found guilty in the probe”.

A Raj Bhawan communique said the minister called on the Governor for a courtesy visit. “During the meeting, the discussions revolved around development of higher education and qualitative improvement,” it said.

The meeting is significant, as the entire education department had stayed away from the maiden function to present Chancellor’s awards in the wake of controversies surrounding LNMU VC SP Singh due to serious corruption charges levelled against him by a contemporary VC last week.

Earlier, vigilance sleuths also carried out raid at the office and Magadh University VC Rajendra Prasad.

Later, the CM met the Governor and two long-pending appointments of VC and Pro-VC were cleared before the Governor went to Delhi. There are several vacancies still existing in varsities.