Shikshan Prasarak Mandali's newspaper ad fails to clear doubts about trust's functioning

Despite the fact that Zee media gave the Shikshan Prasarak Mandali trust repeated opportunities to have its say, the trust chose to put an advertisement in all the prominent dailies to save face. Even though the advertisement tries to reassure the public that all is well with the trust, it does nothing to dispel the unanswered questions about the trust.

The public statement through the advertisement given by the trust contradicts its e-mail to Zee media.

The trust, through its advertisement, has claimed that all its alumni, students, faculty, parents and well-wishers have given it their unstinting support, but this is far from the truth. It was an ex-students' representative who alleged that the governing council did not give a positive response to the ex-students' offer to raise funds worth Rs15 crore to construct a separate building for the commerce faculty.

Rahul Solapurkar, a well-known actor in the Marathi film industry, also an ex-student of the trust's institutions, has alleged that the heritage-grade Lady Ramabai hall (in SP college, Pune) is in bad shape. The alumni association, which organised a grand get-together of ex-students a few years ago, had offered to restore the hall by collecting Rs2 crore in funds, and the governing council of the trust had no response to offer.

As far as students and parents are concerned, it is an open question whether they even know that there are 50-odd cases against the trust pending in various courts; do they know, moreover, that the annual general meeting of the trust has not been held in the past six years? Interestingly, some of the trust's faculty members, on condition of anonymity, have congratulated Zee Media for exposing those at the helm of the trust. Moreover, the faculty members have shown a willingness to provide more information to Zee Media. Also, a few governing council members are willing to provide more information as to how decisions are made unilaterally.

In an email to Zee Media representatives, Shikshan Prasarak Mandali's governing council chairman Abhay Dadhe had sought time until May 31 for responding to questions posed by Zee Media. Given the fact that there are over 50 cases against the trust pending before various courts, how was Dadhe so confident that there would be a final judgment on all the cases by that date?

Representatives of Zee24Taas and dna met Dadhe and vice-chairman Anant Mate on February 18 at the trust's head office in Pune. Dadhe and Mate expressed their inability to come on record and present their side on camera, saying there were 50-odd cases pending before various courts and adding that they needed time to collect the information pertaining to two or three particular cases. The Zee Media team decided to wait since Dadhe and Mate had asked for one week.

After a week had elapsed, Dadhe conveyed over phone that he was in Dubai and would contact Zee Media after his return from Dubai. Then he reiterated that cases were sub judice and later did not respond to phone calls. When Zee24Taas told Dadhe it was shooting a special episode of its news show 'Rokhthok' in Pune, Dadhe told the Zee24Taas reporter that either he or his representative would attend the programme, but later backtracked. He said that since the cases were sub judice, no one from the trust would participate in the programme. The Zee Media group went ahead with the programme. A chair was kept vacant for the trust representative, hoping that someone would show up, but in vain.

Moreover, the state government has announced that it has ordered inquiry into the alleged irregularities. Minister for education Vinod Tawde and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have announced that the state government would not spare anyone who was involved in the irregularities.

The trust's advertisement does nothing to dispel the grave questions which were raised by civil society, the trust's functionaries, and the media.