Posts filed under ‘Rajendra College, Balangir’
UGC stops grants to Rajendra College Balangir
Following report is from TNIE:
Rajendra Autonomous College of Balangir, the oldest college in Western Odisha, will not receive its annual University Grants Commission (UGC) grants owing to large scale vacancies in teaching posts and alleged embezzlement of funds. The college had been getting the annual grants since 2002.
Against the sanctioned strength of 62 faculty members, the college has 40 vacant posts. The college has a student strength of 4,000.
Established in 1944, the college got permission to open degree courses in 1965-66 and it opened post-graduation courses in 1978-79.
The faculty crisis has become so acute that even the principal Prasanna Kumar Patra is holding dual responsibilities. He is in-charge of Balangir Sanskrit College and also Rajendra Autonomous College. With the college administration failing to solve the acute staff crisis, the UGC authorities have decided not to release its annual grant of `10 lakh.
The vacancies apart, college sources said, the UGC had taken note of an expenditure of `3.65 lakh towards purchase of computers for the college in violation of its norms. The UGC has set certain guidelines as to what amount would be spent on movable and immovable equipment and infrastructure.
When the college authorities sent the utilisation certificate, the UGC took strong exception to the purchase of the computers and stopped annual fund for 2013-14. Principal in-charge Patra admitted that the UGC had raised objections to the purchase of computers and did not release `10 lakh for current academic year. “The amount was spent in an unauthorised manner by the former principal of the college and other officials,” he said, adding that the Department of Higher Education has been informed about the financial crisis that the college is facing in the absence of UGC grants.
Sources said the UGC has asked the college management to return `3.65 lakh with 10 per cent interest.
Western Odisha has 332 colleges and 63,000 seats in the plus two level
Following report is from the Sambad:
Degradation of educational quality in Rajendra College Balangir
Following is a report from the Sambad:
High court directed Orissa government to fill up the vacant lecturer posts of colleges of Balangir within 15 days
Following is from The Telegraph:
Balangir, March 3: In a fresh order, the high court has asked the state government to fill up posts of lecturers in various colleges of the town within 15 days.
Sources said the state government had recently submitted a compliance report before the high court in which it has mentioned filling up some posts in some colleges.
Advocate Ashis Mishra, who is the counsel for petitioner Dolamani Pradhan, said the court expressed surprise over the compliance report of the government.
In the report, the government had admitted that Vidya Bhusan Sanskrit College was running with just one lecturer.
“Around 500 students study in the college and there are 10 sanctioned posts for lecturers. Yet only one lecturer is managing the college since 1997. Even the lone lecturer is going to retire in June,” Mishra said.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice V. Gopalagowda and Justice B.N. Mahapatra ordered the state government to fill up teacher’s posts in the colleges of Balangir within 15 days.
Earlier, student leader Dolamani Pradhan had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the high court, alleging that several posts for lectureship had been lying vacant in various colleges of Balangir for several years.
The high court had then directed the government to initiate steps to fill up the vacant posts.
After taking a long time, the government transferred some lecturers from other colleges to Rajendra College and other colleges of the town. A few lecturers were appointed on contract basis.
Pradhan who filed the PIL said: “A few lecturers have been posted in some colleges of the town. However, the government has not posted anyone in Vidya Bhusan Sanskrit College.
“We will wait for 15 days and see how the government is responding to the high court’s directive. If nothing happens, we will agitate again. ”
Fill up vacant lecturer posts in the government and aided colleges of Balangir
Following report is from the Samaj:
Balangir town students want lecturers’ posts fulfilled
Following is a report from The Pioneer:
Students staged Rasta Roko here on Friday in protest against the continuing vacancies of lecturers’ posts in different colleges of Balangir town. They demanded appointment of principals and lecturers in the colleges without further delay.
Students of Rajendra College, Ayurvedic College, Sanskrit College, Balangir College and other colleges of the district headquarters town held the demonstration under the banner of a Joint Action Committee. The stir was led by general secretary of the All Kosal Students’ Union Dolamani Pradhan, Swadhin Mishra, Deepak Puorhit, Sandeep Bag and several student leaders.
The Rasta Roko in front of the District Collectorate continued for about three hours. The student leaders flayed the apathy of the State Government towards the demand of fulfilling the vacant posts of teachers in the local colleges. They threatened to intensify their agitation further if the vacant posts are not filled at the earliest.
Thanks to Kshetrabasi Naik for the following pictures:
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 
