A Syndicate standing committee of the University of Calicut has suggested to the Registrar to suspend two employees at the Pareeksha Bhavan who have been accused of taking bribe from students for various services.
K.K. Haneefa, convener of the staff standing committee, said on Tuesday that corrupt staff should not be allowed to continue in service. The two staff members had been accused of accepting fees from students and paying them to the university, which amounted to gross indiscipline, he said.
The allegation against the staff surfaced on Monday, just a couple of days after an employee at the Mahatma Gandhi University faced action for demanding bribe from a student. It was reported that such an allegation was being raised for the first time in the history of the University of Calicut. A native of Malappuram had sent her degree certificate for validity examination to the university after she got a job in West Asia. The fees for the purpose was ₹1,500. When she contacted the university over phone and asked to expedite the process, one of the staff offered help and sought ₹5,000. However, she got a receipt of only ₹50 by mail though he was supposed to pay ₹1,500. She later filed a complaint with the authorities.
Another woman hailing from Kozhikode wanted to correct some mistakes in her degree mark list. One of the staff asked her to pay ₹1,205 as fees. When he came back with the receipt, he told her that it was short by ₹5 and offered to pay it for her. The woman said in her complaint to the university that the employee took ₹500 from her instead of ₹5. The authorities are saying that a probe is on.
Meanwhile, P. Rasheed Ahammed, Syndicate member, has lodged a complaint with the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), seeking a detailed investigation into the incident. A group of Senate members urged the Vice Chancellor to keep the accused off official responsibilities.
