BRUR VC ‘absent’ on campus
After joining as the vice-chancellor of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur three years and eight months ago, Prof Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah went to the campus on only 237 days, a section of the university teachers claimed.
He never stayed on the campus an entire day. Sometimes, he would stay for a couple of hours, they said in a 790-page "white paper".
Unveiling the paper at a press conference on the campus yesterday, teachers' body Odhikar Surokkha Parishad said the VC holds the post of chief of the sociology department and the post of dean in social science faculty, which is highly unusual.
The teachers brought 111 allegations against the VC in connection with corruption, anomalies, and for being arbitrary.
Prof Kalimullah said a section of teachers raising allegation against him was nothing new. As a probe committee of University Grants Commission (UGC) would visit the campus today, the white paper was released to "influence the probe committee members", he said.
At the press conference, Prof Mohammad Motiur Rahman of Management Studies Department, also convener of the parishad, read out the keynote paper.
The white paper claimed that Prof Kalimullah preferred to stay in Dhaka instead of the campus and that he had set up a "liaison office" in Dhaka in 2017, which has been used as the university's principal office.
The office is being used for various corruption, including recruitment and tender manipulation. Even the syndicate meeting has also been held at that office, the paper claimed.
So far, the VC unilaterally suspended at least 14 officials and staffers without launching any investigation. The victims went to the court for justice, the teachers alleged.
Corruption allegation was also brought against the VC regarding the construction of a portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the campus.
Violating the rules, he had been holding posts of deans in four faculties. Later, he quitted from three. Now, he occupies the dean post of social science faculty, the teachers said.
They accused the VC of indulging in irregularities while holding the three posts.
The VC is also a supervisor of Dr Wazed Research and Training Institute. He has also taken the responsibility of teaching in 26 departments, they said.
An UGC probe body found financial irregularities against the VC and recommended taking action, the teachers claimed, adding that the VC promoted people close to him and deprived senior and dedicated teachers and staffers.
Mahmudul Haque, member of Odhikar Surakkha Parishad and a teacher of Mass Communication and Journalism Department of the university, told The Daily Star that copies of the white paper will be submitted to the President's Office, Prime Minister's Office, education ministry and UGC for their intervention and prompt action.
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