Hajee Danesh University in Dinajpur
UGC seeks clarification of admission test expenses
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has sought clarification of expenses for the first year honours admission tests of Hajee Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU) in Dinajpur under this session.
HSTU Registrar (Acting) Dr Boloram Roy, who received a UGC letter to this effect on Monday, said they will give reply by Wednesday.
On March 28, Ferdous Zaman, deputy secretary (Public University) of UGC, signed the letter asking the HSTU authorities to submit their reply as early as possible.
Earlier a few national dailies ran reports over the high expenses for the first year admission test at HSTU this year.
There are allegations of anomalies including submission of inflated bills concerning the admission tests as HSTU authorities spent Tk 47 lakh 57 thousand and 275 for holding the admission tests of 2011-12 academic year, sources said.
Prof Dr Bidhan Chandra Haldar and Prof Dr Afroza Khatun were the convener and member secretary respectively of Admission Test Committee-2012 of HSTU.
Protesting anomalies, several senior officials of the university filed complaint to the convener of the HSTU examination organiser committee.
According to the HSTU officials, 14,611 students filed applications to attend admission tests under six faculties of the university this session. Teletalk was the official partner to the registration process while Shahjalal Science and Technology University provided technological support.
Each student deposited Tk 500 for registration and so, a total of Tk 73 lakh 5 thousand and 500 was collected from the admission seekers, HSTU office sources said.
The university authority paid 10 and 5 per cent of the money to Teletalk and Shahajalal Science and Technology University respectively as service charges.
The documents collected by this correspondent shows that 109 teachers of HSTU received as honorarium for admission test duty a total of Tk 21,02,000 that was deposited to their bank accounts.
Of them, Prof Dr M Afzal Hossain, vice chancellor of HSTU, Prof Dr Bidhan Chandra Haldar, convener of Admission Test Committee, and Prof Dr Mohammad Alamgir Hasan received Tk 1,20,000, Tk 32,500 and Tk 24,000 respectively.
Besides, Tk 5,08,200 was distributed among 126 officials of HSTU as honorarium for performing duties during the examination.
Tk 4.36 lakh was shown as expenses for preparing question papers, answer sheets and others while Tk 6,15,250 was distributed among 320 staffs of HSTU for performing their duties during the examination.
Contacted by The Daily Star correspondent, HSTU Vice Chancellor Prof M Afzal Hossain earlier said the fund was spent in proper way.
But several teachers of the university alleged that the institution funds have been mishandled for the last few years due to absence of proper fund management policy.
The UGC provision allows a university to spend, for holding any admission test, around 70 per cent of the money collected for the purpose, and the rest of the money is to be kept in its fund, said a teacher of HSTU.
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