Remove Shah or lose grants, Govt tells GU

The state education department has warned Gujarat University (GU) that the government may stop it all grants if Minesh Shah is not removed as the university’s chief accounting officer.

A letter dated June 21, 2012, and addressed to GU vice-chancellor Dr Parimal Trivedi states that the university must remove Shah from the post of chief accounting officer within seven days of receipt of the letter.

The letter, which is written by undersecretary in the education department MH Kumar, says that the university should also recover from Shah with interest the salary that had been paid to him. It further states that if GU fails to do so, the state government may consider stopping grants to the university.

Earlier, an enquiry set up by the state government had identified Shah as the main culprit behind the fixed deposit scam in the university. The letter has also asked Dr Trivedi why he was dragging his feet in the matter of Shah and has alleged that there seemed to be a bias in Shah’s favour.

It also states that if Shah is not removed as per the instruction given to the university on May 31, 2012 and the state government stops grants, the vice-chancellor would be held responsible for the financial loss caused to GU. 

It may be mentioned that the university had withdrawn money kept in a fixed deposit account in a bank and put it in another nationalized bank at lower interest rate. This had caused the university huge financial loss. It forced the state government to institute an enquiry which identified Shah as the main culprit behind the scam.