FINANCIAL BUNGLINGS GALORE

Sahitya Akademi: All For Literature

 Dinesh Chandra

ALLEGING large-scale financial bunglings in the Sahitya Akademi by the president Professor Gopichand Narang, the Janwadi Lekhak Sangh (Democratic Writers’ Association) has sought probe into the scam so that the guilty are brought to book.  The association has charged that the president was doing this in connivance with administrative staff and threatened to launch a phased agitational programme if action is not initiated immediately in the matter.

A delegation of the association met the union culture minister, S Jaipal Reddy recently and urged him to set up an inquiry committee to look into the misuse of public funds by the Akademi president. The delegation comprised, among others, Zubair Razavi, working president, Murli Manohar Prasad Singh, general secretary, Chanchal Chauhan, general secretary, Arun Maheshwari, central secretary, and Sarala Maheshwari, MP.

Giving instances of squandering of funds, the delegation told the minister that ignoring the rules of the Akademi, the president’s office has been renovated at a cost of Rs 15 lakhs. The room where once Jawaharlal Nehru, S Radhakrishan and Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyaya used to sit, instead of being preserved and protected has been converted into the president’s toilet. The construction was undertaken in defiance of the objections of the Central Public Works Department, the competent authority in the matter.

Also bypassing the bylaws of the Akademi, the person who was appointed deputy secretary (Accounts) was also given the charge of deputy secretary (Administration). According to the rules, his academic qualifications should have been M Com but to facilitate his appointment, the eligibility for the post was advertised as graduation. He was given dual responsibility so that funds could be siphoned off unhindered.

Similarly, a car was unnecessarily taken on hire by the president from a bogus company floated by his relative in order to pay the loan installments of the car. The contract only ceased when the media exposed it.

The contract system is still rampant in the Akademi and many jobs which should have been done by regular employees are being done by contractual workers as it allows authorities to patronise their favourites, the delegation told the minister.

(INN)