Thursday, 20 January 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Acting on a complaint that a private college BEd college in Uttarkashi is functioning from a three-room house from last ten years in gross violation of norms the Higher Education minister Dhan Singh Rawat has asked the additional chief secretary Radha Raturi to conduct an inquiry. The inquiry orders were given on January 7.
In the complaint a former administrator of a college has claimed the college ( PITS BEd) college, Uttarkashi has no teachers, library and classrooms but the Shri Dev Suman university has given an approval to admit 100 students in an academic year to this college.
In separate letters sent to the Raj Bhawan, state administration and officials of the university former administrator Pradip Aswal has claimed that the college building was completely damaged in the 2013 disaster. A sum of Rs two crore was paid by the insurance company as compensation but the college owner Shambu Prasad Nautiyal has not constructed the new building yet. In his letter Aswal claimed that Nautiyal has been running the college from his three-room house for the last 10 years. Aswal said that he has sent a complaint with an affidavit to the governor, higher education minister, VC and registrar of the Shri Dev Suman University. He said that the college is preparing for counseling for 100 seats of BEd for session 2021-23. He said that recently the VC of the university P P Dhyani inspected the college and ordered its closure but later took no action. Aswal in his letter has also leveled serious allegations on the VC Dhyani.
Aswal’s letter not only raises question marks over the functioning of the state and university administration but the affiliation committee of the university has come under the scanner. As per the norms of the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE), a BEd college should have a building of 24,500 square feet in which two multipurpose halls of three thousand square feet each and four class rooms of 600 square feet should be there. The college should have a library with 3,000 books and should have common rooms for boys and girls, principal’s room and a playground. The 100 seat BEd College should have 14 teachers with a principal of the rank of professor.
Aswal in his letter claimed that the examination centre of the students of this college is made in a private institute of Haridwar. It is done by the owner of the college in collusion with the officials of the university, the complaint alleges.
