While a CBI probe is under way into the alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of ₹300 crore during 2009-10 to 2015-16 in Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), the State Audit and Accounts Department has alleged that the varsity officials had failed to share the details of its transactions in a bank account during 2021-22 for auditing.
The office of the Principal Director, Karnataka State Audit and Accounts Department, in a letter dated October 16, 2023, to the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Higher Education (Universities), Bengaluru, has sought suitable directions for the officials concerned in KSOU to provide the relevant records of information pertaining to its bank transactions of the period.
Based on a complaint by Parashurama M.L., a former member of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) that a sum of ₹21 lakh had been drawn from an account of KSOU in a private bank between December 18, 2021, to May 7, 2022, through several self-cheques for amounts ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh, the officials of State Audit and Accounts Department sought the details during the 2021-22 audit of accounts. However, the KSOU officials failed to provide any information or records of the same.
The university had also failed to provide the details of the bank accounts it was operating during the year for an audit despite a Government Order dated January 30, 2017, to the effect. Hence, the number of bank accounts KSOU was operating were not available for audit, the letter said.
Also, the varsity officials had kept the transactions made in the State Bank of India’s branch of KSOU out of its annual statement of accounts, the State Audit and Accounts Department alleged.
Though the failure of the officials to respond to the letters seeking audit of its bank accounts was brought to the notice of the University Registrar, no action appears to have been taken. When the officials of the State Audit and Accounts Department sought to tally the details of the passbook provided by the complainant with the records of the bank, the bank officials had failed to respond so far, raising doubts of their alleged involvement with officials of the university, the letter said.
The letter by the State Audit and Accounts Department officials to the officials of Department of Higher Education comes close on the heels of CBI registering an FIR against unidentified officials of KSOU and others in connection with alleged misappropriation of fees collected for the period 2009-10 to 2015-2016 from the students of KSOU by collaborative institutions spread across the country.
