Audit report indicts Music varsity vice-chancellor

MYSORE: The newly established music university, which hogged headlines last week when the vice-chancellor and its registrar locked horns in public, is once again in the news with audit reports pointing at various irregularities.
In its 112-page report, the government audit team has pointed out that VC Hanumanna Nayak Dore has spent Rs 69.85 lakh in the past four years against rules in addition to disclosing the VC's spending to the tune of Rs 2.39 crore with no supporting receipts and vouchers.
However, Dore has denied any illegality in spending money.
The report claimed that the VC, who has withdrawn money from the university accounts, has spent lakhs of rupees throwing governments rules on spending to the wind.
The VC, who had gone on a sponsored trip to Germany, has withdrawn Rs 80,326 from the university accounts claiming that the amount was spent on tour preparations, says the report. Though there is no provision to buy music instruments, the VC has reportedly spent Rs 14.56 lakh on music instruments for the non-existing music museum, it says.
The university has spent Rs 4.06 lakh on security guards posted at the old campus in the city's Vijayanagar area , though it was vacated long ago after shifting the university to a school building at Lakshmipuram, the report says.
According to the report, the government should recover Rs 69 lakh -85 lakh from the VC as the law stipulates that the beneficiary should remit the amount. The auditors pointed out that to circumvent the Transparency Act, the VC split works and got them done through contractors as the Act stipulates that work worth Rs 1 lakh and above has to be allotted through tenders.
When contacted, Dore denied any illegality in spending money and said there are only small procedural lapses. These lapses crept in because the university has no officer to look after financial matters.
"I am not a financial expert and I don't know all procedures governing expenditures," he claimed, adding that he got the works done without looking into the intricacies of financial procedures. "I am replying point by point to the government on how the money was spent as per law," he added.
Registrar M Basavanna, who confirmed that the audit report has pointed out lapses, said: " I received the report and sent to the VC. All irregularities have happened before I assumed the post a year-and-half ago."
Highlights of the report
* VC has claimed travel bills of Rs 3 lakh to 4 lakh for his trips to native town Gulbarga against the provision of one or two trips a year by train
* He has reportedly spent about Rs 7 lakh for clearing weeds on the land acquired by the university near Varkod village though the university has no plans for campus development yet
* Spent Rs 3 lakh on clearing weeds around a rented house owned by Muda at Vijayanagar where the university was established
* VC allegedly received Rs 10,000 per month as home office expenditure though the office never existed. He also got approval when he realized that the spending needs the government's approval