VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Mar 15: The Jharkhand assembly witnessed a war of words between the treasury and the opposition during the budget session of the assembly on Tuesday on a question related to the seizure of financial rights of the principal of St Columba’s College in Hazaribagh.
Mandar MLA Bandhu Tirkey who belongs to the treasury bench raised this matter. He said that the financial rights of the principal Sunil Toppo have been seized by the Vinoba Bhave University (VBU).
He alleged that the principal who is a minority and tribal is being harassed and VBU hatched a conspiracy to remove him from the post of principal of the college which is a minority institution.
Manish Jaiswal of the BJP who represents Hazaribagh assembly seat objected to Bandhu Tirkey for raising this matter in the House and claimed that the principal was caught in gross financial misconduct. He also made certain remarks about the association of the principal with the missionaries. However, his comment was expunged later on but it irked Bandhu Tirkey and other MLAs of the treasury bench.
“Yes, the matter belongs to your assembly constituency. But you can’t stop me from raising any question because this is my prerogative also,” Bandhu Tirkey said. He demanded the government to conduct an inquiry if there was anything wrong with the principal.
Notably, in 2017 the syndicate member Amardeep Yadav had accused the principal of committing financial irregularities worth Rs 57 lakh. The allegation was that funds and income of the college were diverted to a bank account which was opened for the purpose of the centenary celebration of the college. But it was not known who opened that account. There were several other allegations. The then VC Dr. Ramesh Sharan seized his financial power and formed a committee of KK Sinha (proctor), Sajal Mukharjee (head of the department of economics), and university finance officer, Om Prakash. But the committee gave a vague and incomplete report. Later on, another committee was formed which confirmed the allegation and recommended his suspension.
The term of Ramesh Sharan had ended and he was replaced by Mukul Narayan Deo as VC. The new VC suspended him but he had to revoke suspension allegedly under some pressure. Sunil Toppo was reinstated as principal. But the VC continued to restrict his financial power. Notably, Sunil Toppo had approached the police to lodge a complaint against Mukul Narayan Deo.
