Ex-VC of Maritime University to face action for Rs 23 crore loss

CHENNAI: The executive council of city-based Indian Maritime University (IMU) has decided to take disciplinary action against former vice-chancellor P Vijayan for lapses in collecting the mandatory affiliation fee from private institutions resulting in a loss of about 23 crore. The decision was taken at a meeting on June 26.
Thirty-six private institutions had been granted affiliations without collecting fee and most affiliations were given during the tenure of Vijayan, IMU's first VC, it was found.Vijayan had been appointed vice-chancellor by the shipping ministry in 2008.
After TOI reported the matter in August 2013, shipping secretary Vishwapati Trivedi ordered an inquiry into the alleged decision by top university and ministry officials to exclude private institutions from paying affiliation fees, but an official heading the ministry's vigilance wing allegedly did not act.
A few IMU officials, including the former controller of exams, who raised the issue and urged the shipping ministry to collect the money, were terminated from service last year before the end of their tenure.
Now, almost a year after the issue surfaced, a senior executive council member said it had been decided not to spare defaulters. "Concerned officials were asked to frame charges and action will be taken against Vijayan," he said. Vic-chancellor Ashok Vardhan Shetty, who chaired the meeting that ordered disciplinary action, refused to comment.
Vijayan, now director of IMU Chennai campus, is soon to be prosecuted by the CBI in a disproportionate assets case registered in 2011. Two months ago, the office of President Pranab Mukherjee, who holds the post of Visitor, similar to that of a chancellor, of the university, sanctioned the CBI's prosecution request.
But sources said the vigilance department in the shipping ministry had put the President's letter under the carpet. "Disciplinary action sanctioned by the President's office should not be reconsidered or delayed. It is time for the new shipping ministry and the Central Vigilance Commission to probe corruption charges and the role of vigilance wing that is trying to protect corrupt officials by delaying action," said an official in the ministry. M C Johari, joint secretary (shipping), who heads the vigilance wing, did not respond to repeated queries.