Allegations Against JU VC : Protesters give documents to edn ministry
Two agitating teachers of Jahangirnagar University last night submitted a six-page written complaint and around 70-page written information about the VC’s alleged corruption to the education ministry.
Associate Prof Khandaker Hasan Mahmud of geography and environment said he, along with Prof Tareq Reza of Bangla, handed the documents to Abdul Aleem Khan, personal secretary to the education minister.
The development came a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blasted the campus protesters saying that they would have to face punishment if they failed to prove the graft allegations.
Meanwhile, 36 university teachers in a statement yesterday demanded immediate removal of VC Prof Farzana Islam to bring back “peace and normalcy” to the university.
They demanded the authorities take legal action against the attackers of protesting teachers and students. The teachers also demanded formation of a high-level probe body to investigate the corruption allegations.
The statement was signed by Prof Gitiara Nasreen, Prof Mohammad Tanjimuddin Khan, Prof Robayet Ferdous, Prof Kaberi Gayen, Prof Fahmidul Haque, and Prof Kamrul Hasan, among others.
PROTEST IN CAPITAL
Some former JU students, teachers and civil society members at a rally in the capital yesterday said it was not the responsibility of the teachers and students to prove the allegations against the VC.
Rather, the University Grants Commission, the university administration and the education ministry were responsible to look into the matter, they said.
“The prime minister said the accusers have to face music if they can’t prove the allegations. But here, Chhatra League leaders are the accusers. If they want to do it, they have to punish the Chhatra League leaders,” Prof Anu Muhammad of economics said at the programme in Shahbagh.
Earlier in September, two leaders of a JU Chhatra League faction publicly claimed that they had received Tk 25 lakh of the “distributed money” as per a settlement reached at an August 9 meeting at the VC’s residence.
They said the investigators should check phone call records of the VC, her personal secretary and son after the bidding over Tk 450-crore work began, specially before and after August 9. They called for a probe.
Prof Anu Muhammad said people only came to know about the alleged corruption when the Chhatra League leaders made it public.
“Based on that, we demanded an investigation. I myself wrote to the education ministry. But no investigation has been conducted into the allegations yet,” he added.
The teacher said the protest would not have turned into an anti-VC movement and come this far if a probe body was formed earlier.
DEMO ON CAMPUS
Earlier in the morning yesterday, the agitating teachers and students continued their protest on the campus defying the university authority’s ban on rallies and processions.
Around 100 students started the protest through scroll painting in front of the old Registrar Building around 10:00am. The protesters also brought out a procession in the afternoon.
On Tuesday, the JU authorities shut down the university for an indefinite period and banned processions and rallies on the campus until further notice.
The university plunged into the crisis in the wake of the student protests in August demanding a judicial enquiry into the VC’s reported involvement in corruption and mismanagement of a Tk 1,445-crore campus development project.
Prof Farzana claimed that she was not involved in any corruption or irregularities.
Our JU correspondent contributed to this report.
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