Financial and recruitment irregularities have marred the institute’s image
The Aligarh Muslim University, which was already in the eye of a storm over its insistence to be considered as a minority institution (the case for which is pending before the Supreme Court), must be concentrating more on setting its own house in order. This time, the varsity has come under the scanner over alleged irregularities in hire, promotions and admissions of its faculty members. It has been alleged that certain non-performing teachers of the varsity were elevated to high posts, on a selective basis, without taking into account the criteria for such promotion. Many teachers were promoted without taking into account the Academic Performance Indications score. Others were promoted without their having trained PhD candidates, on the basis of their book reviews. All of these controversies have been targeted at one man — the just retired Vice Chancellor, lt Gen Zameeruddin Shah. The situation is worse for him because, already the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing a number of allegations pertaining to financial, academic and administrative irregularities, which are quite in number. It cannot be a mere coincidence that all of these irregularities had taken place during Shah’s tenure in the AMU. While he has termed the allegations as “farce” and instead put the blame on the teachers, he cannot wash his hands off because his tenure has ended. He has to take responsibility and cooperate with the investigation agency. The finding of the probe will conclusively prove who was at fault.
The history of this institution is, in fact, marred with many controversies since the time of its creation by way of an Act of Parliament in 1920. The varsity came under malicious attack in 1965 as mullahs were opposed to Muslims going for modern education. More recently, in 2014, it locked horns with the NDA Government over the celebration of the birth anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap, a freedom-fighter, who apparently had donated land to the university. The same year, Shah sparked yet another controversy by stating that allowing the students of women's college into the main library would lead to “four times more boys” thronging the library. An Associate Professor of AMU was suspended for allegedly using objectionable language against the Vice Chancellor on social media.
All these developments do not bode well for a central university which was once listed among the top universities in the country. Already, an audit on account of the university’s non-performance has been initiated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Further, its ranking too has suffered. All said and done, a thorough probe into this case is the need of the hour. The MHRD has already initiated an inquiry and has asked the University Grants Commission to submit a report on this issue. If the probe insists on accountability, then it is hoped that the perpetrators will be booked.