Pondicherry University official’s recruitment under scanner

PUDUCHERRY: Pondicherry University is again in the news for the wrong reason .A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India’s performance audit by the office of the principal director of audit (central), Chennai termed the initial appointment of a senior official in the university, B Chitra, as assistant registrar as ‘irregular’. The audit said Chitra, presently serving as registrar in-charge did not possess the required educational qualification and work experience when she applied for the post of assistant registrar way back in 1989.
An RTI activist obtained copies of reports of the audit from the university and BJP Puducherry unit vice-president M Sundaramoorthy has written to the vice-president Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the chancellor of the university, urging him to remove Chitra from the post of registrar in-charge for not possessing the required qualification while applying for the post of assistant registrar.
The university invited applications from eligible candidates to fill up the post of the assistant registrar on January 27, 1988. The university said candidates with high second-class master’s degree and with two years’ experience can apply for the vacant post before April 15, 1988.
The audit said Chitra appeared for the final year examination of the master’s degree in June 1988 whereas the last date of submitting the application was April 15, 1988, which clearly revealed that she was not possessing the minimum required qualification of a master’s degree at the time of applying for the post. It further noted that there was no record to prove that she possessed two years’ work experience. On verification of her educational profile, it found that she completed matriculation (Class 10) in 1978, higher secondary in 1980, BA degree in 1983, BL course in 1986 and two-year LLM in June 1988.
“…she (Chitra) was a student on the last date for submission of application and pursuing her studies up to June 1988 and as such acquiring two years’ experience in any organization on or before April 15, 1988, appears to be not feasible,” the senior audit officer said in a performance audit report.
The audit said a case against her appointment was dismissed by the Madras High Court and she joined the university as the assistant registrar with effect from September 27, 1989. “Audit, however, observed that no record in support of nature of her case filed in the high court and court judgement was available in her personal file,” the officer said.
The audit cited various judgements of the Supreme Court to drive home the point that the candidates, who fulfil the required qualifications on the last date of receipt of applications are alone eligible to apply to the post. It also cited the department of personnel and training’s order, which declared that if a permanent government servant was not qualified as per the recruitment rules, an inquiry must be held and if the charges are proved the government servant must be dismissed from service.
“The irregular initial appointment of Smt. B Chitra as assistant registrar is brought to notice for necessary action,” the senior audit officer said in a communication addressed to then registrar (Sasi Kanta Dash). Ironically, Chitra is presently the registrar in-charge.
The university maintained that Chitra was selected and appointed by a duly-constituted selection committee after proper scrutiny. “It is a 30-year old issue. She (Chitra) was appointed in 1989 by a duly constituted selection committee. There was also a court case against her appointment. The case was subsequently dismissed,” said assistant registrar (public relations) K Mahesh adding that the university will reply to the CAG performance audit report.
Chitra denied all the charges levelled against her. “Some unwarranted elements have attempted to malign me, my services and my reputation,” she said.