New dispute breaks out between GIPE & parent body SIS over financial control

Time of India

20 hours ago

Pune: Tensions between Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) and its parent body, Servants of India Society (SIS), flared up once again after both indulged in allegations and counter-allegations related to a bank account.
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At a press conference on Thursday, GIPE's officiating deputy registrar Vishal Gaikwad, accused SIS of wrongdoing, including freezing its account. However, SIS president Damodar Sahoo, who later met reporters, countered the charges.
Gaikwad said, "We came to know 3-4 days ago that Sahoo wrote to the bank to freeze the account from which the staff salaries are disbursed. But we met the bank's officials and made it operational."
Sahoo, on the other hand, stated that it was a joint account with two signatories, SIS and GIPE. However, GIPE had removed SIS's signatory without any prior notification.
He said, "Hence, we wrote to the bank to freeze the account to know what happened as this has been a joint account since inception and there have always been two signatories and one cannot randomly delete one signatory."
In April, an FIR was lodged by GIPE against SIS's former secretary Milind Deshmukh, accusing him of misappropriating funds worth Rs 1.42 crore.
Gaikwad said that he wrote to the police asking them to add Sahoo's name to the FIR. Sahoo said he has no information about GIPE's letter, nor have the police contacted him.
In view of their allegations against SIS of misusing GIPE funds, Gaikwad said that the institute wrote to the charity commissioner requesting suspension of the SIS leadership and appointment of an administrator. Sahoo alleged that GIPE has no right to make such a demand since SIS is its parent body.
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A few months ago, SIS had accused interim VC Shankar Das of allegedly bypassing procedures in faculty and staff recruitment at GIPE which escalated to the SIS removing Sanjeev Sanyal as chancellor and appointing an interim chancellor.
Sanyal hit back, alleging lack of transparency in financial transactions of SIS. In a series of posts on X, Sanyal said that JNU vice-chancellor Santishree Pandit will inquire into the allegations against Das after which Sahoo called it all a misunderstanding and Sanyal was reinstated.
Pandit's committee, which comprised two more members from SPPU, conducted an inquiry and gave a clean chit to the recruitment process taken up by Das.
She said, "We had two online meetings and one in-person meeting at GIPE. We looked at all the documents and found that no rules of UGC or the state govt were flouted during the appointments made during Das's tenure. Sahoo withdrew his complaint against Das. A public notice was issued requesting submission of any evidence related to the complaint before the committee.
However, Sahoo did not present or submit any documents before the committee.
None of the allegations could stand scrutiny, and the process documents proved beyond doubt that all rules and regulations were followed."
Pandit added that there was another complaint from a faculty member at GIPE alleging irregularities in the appointments. "We admitted the complaint and went through its allegations. We also gave the professor a fair hearing.
However, since no rules were flouted, we gave a clean chit to Das and submitted the report to the chancellor a month and a half ago," she said.
Sahoo said that he had not withdrawn the complaint, and was not called to give evidence. "I have not even been given a copy of the report nor was my side heard," he added.
The SIS president said an advisory body was created to bridge the souring relationship between GIPE and SIS and keep communication channels open.
However, Gaikwad said there is no provision for such a committee in SIS's byelaws.
New VC Soon
Both Gaikwad and Sahoo confirmed that the selection process for a new vice-chancellor for Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics has been completed and the institute will soon have a new head.
Sahoo said, "I am very hopeful that under able leadership and guidance, our new VC will shoulder the responsibility of GIPE and render his best services for all-round development of the institute and re-establish a cordial relationship between SIS and GIPE."