Misuse of lab grant in university alleged

FUNDS BEING received under the annual Laboratory Grant— meant to purchase chemicals, glassware and, in general, maintain the labs for the benefit of students— are being used by many a department of Allahabad University (AU) for tasks, like cutting of hedges and grass as well as getting the roof cleaned, with impunity in gross violation of the grant usage guidelines.

If sources are to be believed, some departments like the Zoology Department have not even bothered to either maintain the stock registers for the past over seven years, get it verified by the head of the department or even have the records audited as per the set rules and regulations. The department registers simply have no entry that is verified since as early as 1998 raising questions over the spending of lakhs of rupees received by the department as lab grant.

For the past some years, complaints about the falling standards of research at AU has become routine and the department heads of the AU Science Faculty have been citing the low lab grants as one of the reasons for it and for not being able to get the experiments conducted properly. However, critics have pointed out mismanagement of the lab grant as the reason for falling standards.

Take the case of the Zoology department, it has been receiving a grant of Rs 3,45,000 per annum for the past many years with an option of securing an additional sum of Rs 1.45 lakh, if needed. The department received a total of around Rs 27,60,000 between 1998 and 2005.

Sources say, this fund was not only utilised in the Zoology department, for getting the grass cut and hedges trimmed besides having the roof cleaned but their bills and vouchers were also  presented for payment. This happened not once but many a times during the past few years.

Surprisingly, the official stock register of the department makes no mention of any purchases of either chemicals or equipment by the department. After 1998, the register simply has no entry with no question of any cross-verification by the HoD and the audit by the local audit office—even though the department did make purchases every year.

Some research scholars, on condition of anonymity, even alleged that the chemicals purchased by the department are of poor quality and that there demands of chemicals for experiments are mostly turned down.

However, the head of the AU Zoology department Prof Pratima Gaur denies all these allegations. Prof Gaur said, "The details of the lab fund and all purchases are being duly maintained and the stock registers too are up to date. The audits too have been carried out."

She alleged that some vested interests are spreading canards to sully the good name of the department.

On being contacted, AU vice-chancellor Prof Rajen Harshe said, "I cannot comment without knowing all the details. I will look into the matter immediately.

I am due to meet Prof Pratima Gaur on March 3 and will inquire about this from her then."