NU purchase committee clears search panel bills

Nagpur: As expected, Nagpur University Purchase Committee too cleared the ‘exorbitant’ bills of VC search panel on Friday after pressure from chancellor’s office, NU officials alleged. Referring the issue to this panel was a mere formality after Senate members censured the administration for clearing Rs 1.20 crore bills to be paid from NU General Fund that is built with exam and tuition fees collected from students.
The panel allegedly splurged the amount on publishing advertisements through Nikita Media Services in vernacular media at places like Punjab and Bengal where there was no relevance. The members also stayed at luxury hotels and travelled by executive class at NU’s expenses, thus exceeding the expenses several fold from the allocated budgetary amount of Rs 30 lakh for VC selection process.
Acting VC Vinayak Deshpande told TOI the bills were cleared after thoroughly verifying all documents that included Nikita Media’s communication with various newspapers. He stated that they had asked the agency to pass on 15% commission they would be getting from media organizations to NU. “We could probably save some amount if they passed on the amount in students’ interests,” he said.
Nikita Media’s Nilesh Rathi refused NU’s request stating governing body for advertising didn't approve such practice. “We don’t seek or offer any discounts,” he clarified dashing NU hopes.
NU officials informed that Purchase Panel members had called for all documents from Nikita Media related to advertisements floated in various newspapers and also invited their local representatives. They confirmed commercial and government rates offered by media organizations. They also talked with vernacular dailies representatives in other states where the advertisement was published to confirm the rates. It was revealed that Nikita agency had availed government rates but failed to pass on benefits to NU.
Since Purchase Committee led by the VC had the members who were also part of Management Council and Senate that had earlier cleared the bills, no opposition was expected here. Senate members had censured the administration, but only after clearing the budget where amendment to expand budgetary allocation from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1.20 crore was made. The administration had allegedly entered into an “unofficial deal” with political groups led by Baban Taywade and Dinesh Agrawal to have the bills cleared, following cues from the highest office.
The bills were cleared despite the fact the NU registrar had not consented for publishing advertisements by the search panel members led by Justice (retired) Vikas Sirpurkar, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialization (MGIRI) director Prafullakumar Kale, principal secretary for higher and technical education Sanjay Chahande, and professor at Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) Subhash Taley who is nodal officer.