What's 'voluntary' about the donations which Ruia College takes?

After doing a series of reports on the irregularities in the functioning of the Shikshan Prasarak Mandali Trust (Shi Pra), dna has discovered that a trust-run college has been asking donations from students. This is none other than the Ruia College in Matunga, which was anointed a Centre of Excellence by the University Grants Commission (UGC).A former student of the college, Sameer Gaikwad, has availed the Right to Information to get hold of printed forms which are used during the process of taking donations from parents of applicants. These printed forms say that the parents are donating this amount of their own free will. The forms must be signed by the parents. Gaikwad has questioned why, if the donations are entirely voluntary, Shi Pra is handing out printed forms to every parent.When the Zee Media team visited the college, many students revealed that they were asked to donate money to Shi Pra by the college authorities.To pursue the matter, Gaikwad has approached the Charity Commissioner as well as Mumbai University, and has even written to the State government, but in vain. A committee appointed by Mumbai University has given a clean chit to the college and has ridiculed Gaikwad, saying that he needs psychiatric treatment. Shockingly, the committee's report bases its diagnosis on the opinions of two employees of Ruia College, who told them that Gaikwad needs such treatment.When Zee Media contacted University registrar Dr MA Khan and former UGC Chairman Dr Arun Nigvekar, they both said taking donations was wrong. Both Nigvekar and Khan said that those who want to make voluntary donations should deposit the money at the office of the Shi Pra Trust directly.Bombay University College Teachers' Union (Buctu) vice-president Balasaheb Salve, when contacted, said that there had been a similar complaint about Ruia College in 2005; the college had to return Rs15,000 (per student) collected as additional fees then.The Assistant Director of the Higher Education department Manjusha Molwane had sought an explanation from Ruia College in this regard on November 3, 2014. Even after five months, the college has not submitted its representation to Molwane's office.In its response to a questionnaire sent to it by Zee 24 Taas and dna, the Shi Pra Trust alleged that the said student Gaikwad wanted to become general secretary; that because he could not become the GS, he was defaming the college. In its reply to Zee Media, Shi Pra has made various allegations against Gaikwad, and has also handed over documents purporting to show him in a bad light. What Shi Pra has not explained is this: why it has printed forms for accepting donations from parents. Also, even though Minister for Education Vinod Tawde has announced an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the functioning of Shi Pra, the trust has not responded to the question as to why Ruia College was asked to pay back additional fees charged in 2005.