Procedures violated in laptop purchases at DU: Govt

A fact-finding committee constituted by UGC had established violation of procedures while approving purchase of laptops by diverting OBC funds which were meant for newly-appointed staff position at the Delhi University (DU), government said today.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani said that a show cause notice was sent to former DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh, in respect of certain "irregularities."
"A Fact Finding Committee constituted by UGC under the chairmanship of S Sathyam had established violation of statutory procedures while approving the purchase of laptops by diverting from OBC recurrent grant which were meant for newly appointed staff positions," Irani said in her reply.

She added that a show cause notice was served on the former DU VC in respect of "certain irregularities including purchase of laptops by diversion of funds received from UGC for implementation of reservation policy for OBCs."
Irani also quoted an interview, which Singh gave to a newspaper, where he had, she said, admitted to this diversion of funds.
In the newspaper statement quoted by the minister in her written reply, the former DU VC says "Do you know what we did with that money? We ensured that every single college could provide laptops for first-year students each year. We enabled the WiFi system. This is not a misuse. This is the way forward.