Panel to probe ABVP charges against PUCSC

CHANDIGARH: A five-member committee has been constituted by the dean student welfare (DSW) office to investigate the allegations of misappropriation of funds made by the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) against the present Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC). The committee will submit the report within 15 days and the PUCSC has been asked to deposit the bills of the functions organized in another two days at the DSW office.Moreover, no payment will be made to the PUCSC till the submission of report by the committee. Following this, ABVP members called off their hunger strike on Wednesday, stating that their demands had been accepted.
On Tuesday, the third day of the hunger strike by ABVP students, parishad member Anshul Sharma was admitted to GMSH-16 after he complained of stomach ache. “We are happy that all our demands have been accepted. Now, the university will probe the matter and submit the report in a time-bound manner,” said Harmanjot Singh Gill, central working committee (CWC) member of the ABVP.
However, earlier in the day while addressing the media, PUCSC president Jashan Kamboj said that, “The ABVP claims that the PUCSC submitted an exorbitant bill of Rs 11 lakh. The bills aren’t provided by us. The tenders are approved at the lowest rate at the DSW office first and the payment is made directly to the vendors. We are simply intermediaries. The ABVP is working on fake allegations, and is doing so to create a hype. The ABVP was unaware of the procedure that was followed for the payment of bills, and hence was misinformed about their activities.”
The ABVP had alleged that the council fund for ‘Jhankaar’ was meant to be spent on student activities. “This council did not conduct any student activities and now they will get Rs 11 lakh for ‘Jhankaar’ from the council fund. Rupees 11 lakh for singers that come on ‘Jhankaar’ nights makes no sense. It is a student festival and is meant to engage students by organizing different activities. This council has broken that tradition. There were no activities for students,” ABVP members had alleged.