There is more trouble in store for state PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, with the Bombay high court on Monday issuing a notice against him and other family members in the alleged fee fraud by his educational institute, Mumbai Educational Trust (MET).
There is more trouble in store for state PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, with the Bombay high court on Monday issuing a notice against him and other family members in the alleged fee fraud by his educational institute, Mumbai Educational Trust (MET).
Acting on a PIL that has charged the trust running the Bhujbal Knowledge City in Nashik with defrauding students and government, the division bench of justice SA Bobade and justice Mridula Bhatkar of the Bombay HC has slapped the notice on Bhujbal, his wife Meena, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer. The Bhujbals have now been asked to reply to the allegations levelled against them in a PIL filed by freedom fighter Balasaheb Jhambulkar.
According to the PIL, Bhujbal and MET institute have defrauded the Shikshan Shulk Samiti (SSS) — the government panel that determines fees for private professional institutes based on actual educational expenses since 2010. Bhujbal’s trust running four Nashik-based institutes “fraudulently” showed inflated amounts as expenses to mislead the SSS into fixing higher fees to the tune of Rs8 crore.
Stating that MET co-founder Sunil Karve too was named a respondent in the PIL, Jhambulkar’s counsel Anil Anturkar said irregularities concerned MET campuses both at Bandra-Kurla Complex and Nashik. However, Karve’s counsel Sayaji Nangre told DNA that no HC notice had been issued against his client.
“Allegations are mainly regarding the Nashik campus and my client (Karve) was kept away from its functioning,” said Nangre.
The trust cheated not only the government and students but also the state government’s Social Welfare Department, which pays the fees for SC/ST students and half the amount for OBC students, alleged the PIL, while demanding the quashing of fees, returning excess amounts to students, suspending the trustees and appointing an administrator.
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