The University is a place where students imbibe education for life, taught and untaught and very often it is the latter they pick up faster. If corruption in education is not nipped in the bud, all other efforts to purge corruption from the entrails of society will be an exercise in throwing dust in the public’s eyes. Hence when there are cases of corruption at Goa University they should be immediately brought to finality and the guilty punished, no matter even if it involves an ex-vice chancellor, even if he has begged the ex governor and ex chief minister to bury the case.
Ex vice chancellor Dilip Deobagkar and ex Registrar of Goa University have both been found guilty by the Academic Council appointed D’Lima investigation committee in the Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research scam, where the course was jointly organized by Goa University and a private company Bioinnovate, outside the jurisdiction of the state in violation of Supreme Court judgment. The case has been subsequently investigated by the Anti Corruption Bureau headed by SP Bosco George, DySP Bossuet Silva and PI Braz Menezes. The question is when there is prima-facie evidence of corruption and when an activist has filed a complaint before the ACB, why is the ACB not filing an FIR against Deobagkar and ex registrar Mohan Sangodkar, if they are serious about fighting corruption?
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar who has recently taken over the education portfolio should study the matter and issue directions to file FIR against the duo, under whose tenure the NAAC grading of the University fell to B+, lower than affiliated colleges. The determined activist had written a letter to the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who despite his pious platitudes against corruption did not act against the ex vice chancellor and ex registrar who signed a MoA providing 40 percent of share to Goa University and 60 percent to the Bioinnovate Company for conducting this Course all over India. Then suddenly for reasons best known to him, Sangodkar within a few months, signed another MoA with the same company superseding the previous MoA and reduced share of Goa University to a mere 20 percent and the private company’s share was increased to 80 percent! This was totally against the financial interest of Goa University and caused a huge loss to it by this unexplained act with huge profits to the private entity.
Also the courses were conducted in contempt of Supreme Court Order and the University Grants Commission notification bearing No F.9-8/2008 (CPP-1) on April 16, 2009 to all State Governments including the Government of Goa instructing “To stop all the state universities in the state from operating beyond the territorial jurisdiction of your state in any manner either in the form of off-campus, study centre or the University Grants Commission (UGC).“
Sangodkar also permitted the Bioinnovate Company through this MoA to operate as a franchisee of Goa University outside Goa and conduct the Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research Course at many places in India and outside the territorial jurisdiction of Goa University, in violation of Supreme Court order and UGC directions.
The Diplomas and Certificates issued by Goa University for the Post Graduate Course in Clinical Research are invalid in view of the Supreme Court Order and UGC Notification causing great financial loss and harm to students who had enrolled outside the jurisdiction of the state of Goa. In some cases fees of between Rs 50000 to Rs 1 lakh for the course and the exams were never even conducted.
The question is why is present the Vice Chancellor Satish Shetye not filing FIR even as his daughter was among the duped students, some of whom were not awarded certificates. The Executive Council has accepted the 200 page inquiry report and which was vetted by Adv General Atmaram Nadkarni as a fit case for filing FIR. While Deobagkar now lives in Anjuna and conducts conferences here, Sangodkar was rewarded with appointment as member of Goa State Public Services Commission. Though the case occurred under the Congress regime, nothing has been done by the BJP to show it has zero tolerance to corruption. Unless the BJP government shows firm resolve to root out corruption in education all its pronouncements on corruption will be just a sham.
