We are thunderstruck to know how crimes were being committed under the cover of running an institution of higher learning. We are also shocked that a front ranking private university of the country is nothing but a den of corruption like financial irregularities, fund embezzlement and money laundering by none other than its trustees. The Anti-Corruption Commission recently filed a case in which the members of the trustee board and others have been accused of committing these and other crimes.
It is alleged that the trustees of the North South University misappropriated huge amount money in the name of purchasing more than nine thousand decimals of land, again in the name of setting up a permanent campus for the university. And how they purchased the land? They did it through overvaluation of the land and without approval of the Syndicate, the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Education – as are required under the existing laws. A trustee is even accused of appointing the treasurer of his choice by forging signature of the government official concerned. It is also known to all that NSU charges exorbitant tuition fees from the students, much beyond the capacity of many guardians.
Four of the NSU trustees submitted petitions to the High Court seeking anticipatory bails but the HC rejected their plea and asked police to arrest the petitioners and produce them before the lower court within 24 hours. We hope that all the private universities of the country will learn a lesson from the decision of the apex court and refrain from all sorts of corrupt practices, if any. Let the HC decision usher in a new chapter in the history of private universities of the country.
