CAG: JNU’s reliance on UP and Bihar contradicts its “all-India character”

 The Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) authority has dotted out a voiding crevasse in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) academic set up which has failed to retain its “all-India” character in its student body. The CAG performance audit report has pointed out that JNU has a majority student population from the states of UP and Bihar, while admissible seats allocated to students from other states are significantly minimal.

Contrary to being an “all India” institution, CAG has pointed out that applications to JNU from the two alleged states has reached a staggering level of 10,000 in the last five years, as against 1000 from as many as 20 other states of the country.  The sheer number is what has red-marked the set up in the eyes of the CAG body, which now probing to understand the state of things better. JNU’s alleged reliance, as CAG pointed out, on student from the states of Bihar and UP ‘defeats’ the purpose of open university stature.

Another irregularity that has surfaced points towards the unwarranted allocation of funds meant for the OBC reserved category. CAG has unearthed that Rs. 6.09 crore that were allocated as a part of the Infrastructure Development Fund from the OBC recurring grant of Rs. 24.29 crore in the year 2008, have been unduly used for paying electricity and water bills, purchase of assets, national and international travel, field work and attending seminars/conferences. In 2009, CAG reports, JNU faculty spent almost Rs. 5 crore “on purchase of fixed assets, publications, and expenses in connection with seminars/tours/meets out of the said recurring grant which was inadmissible as per the conditions laid down by UGC.” Reliance on inadmissible funds has highlighted the parallel irregularity that stretches from student population structure, rise in dropout/fail percentage rate to undue allocation of funds.

The CAG watchdog report to HRD Ministry has emphasized on the undue lax in regulations in appointment of administrative members, lack of faculty members that clouds a void of 33 per cent in the same and a significant fall in number of foreign students admitted to the varsity.