SAU president asked to return salary, allowences

KARACHI: Indian Ministry of External Affairs has directed the Acting President of South Asian University Dr Chandra to ‘return the salary and allowances to the tune of INR32 lakh drawn as president of the SAU, because he was not entitled to claim the amount.

The MEA has also stipulated that a sum of Rs9,99,656 to be recovered from the Registrar of South Asian University, Dr AK Malik, because this payment was ‘inadmissable, irregular and unlawful’.

This clearly established and vindicate that there is much wrongdoing going on at SAU and the present dispensation, of the corrupt registrar and president, who have been colluding together to defraud the university, should be asked to resign.

Dr Chandra took on the role of acting president in November 2019 when the then incumbent, Dr Kavita Sharma’s term expired. According to University rules and regulations she should have given charge to the vice president but since there was no VP at that point, she chose to give charge to the Chief Liaison Officer, Dr Chandra, who is an IFS officer and on deputation to the university. This in itself was highly irregular because rather than giving charge to a regular and permanent employee she chose to give charge to someone on deputation.

If there was no vice president, she should have given charge to the senior most professor as is done in all other educational institutions all over India. The fact that Dr Chandra is not an academic and has no understanding of academic matters is woefully evident in the way the university has been running ever since he took over. He has turned SAU into another arm of the Indian government, markedly changing the character of the university from its being an ‘international university’ to its being another central university with a totally Indian character.

It is surprising how the governing board of the university, which comprises members from Saarc have all allowed this state of affairs to flourish.

The letter from the MEA clearly establishes that Dr Chandra and Dr Malik have indulged in financial malpractices and therefore they should not be allowed to go scot free. It is not enough for them to refund the amount to the university.

Also, the GB must push for the immediate appointment of the senior most professor (not Dean, as even low level temporary appointees have been appointed Deans and Associate Deans at SAU) as President at least till a permanent appointment is made. SAU has already had two presidents from India in contravention of SAU rules and this must not be allowed to continue.