Ashoka University has been accused of “financial embezzlement”. The Haryana higher education department has issued a show cause notice to the varsity for not admitting enough students from the state or giving them fee concession, as per the provisions of the state’s Private Universities Act, 2006, reported a leading news daily.
As per the Act, a university in the state must reserve a minimum of 25 per cent of the seats for admissions of students of Haryana domicile. Out of these, 10 per cent seats must be reserved for students belonging to SC category. The Act also states that a university must provide fee concessions for such students. This includes one-fifth of 25 per cent must be granted full fee concession and two-fifth be granted 50 per cent fee concession. The remaining must get 25 per cent fee concession.
Ashoka university has disregarded the criteria and fudged figures, thus “making it a blatant case of maladministration and misinformation causing financial embezzlement,” the govt has stated. “After examination of the data, it was found that the enrollment of students of Haryana domicile is low in all courses, which defeats the purpose of the provisions of the Act,” the notice reads. Additional Chief Secretary (Higher Education), Anand Mohan Sharan, has issued the show cause to the university, the news daily reported.
The university said it has strictly followed the requirements of the Act. All students who got admission from the state received fee concessions. It further added that it has offered financial aid to over 45 per cent of its students throughout the years which accounts for more than Rs 325 crore in scholarships, which is beyond the requirements of the Act, it added.
Ashoka university also claimed it has followed a merit-based admission policy as per the Section 35 of the Act adding that no seats were denied to any of the meritorious students of the state. Furthermore, seats that were not filled through the state quota remained mostly unfilled, even after a provision for transfer of seats to other categories, it added. Ashoka University has also said that it has responded to the show cause notice of the government.
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