Govt orders special audit of 12 DU colleges over financial irregularities

The Delhi government has initiated a special audit of 12 DU colleges fully funded by it to investigate allegations of financial irregularities flagged by Chief Minister Atishi.

The Directorate of Audit has assigned an eight-member team to conduct the special audit after a status report was submitted by a high-level committee.

In an order issued last week, the Audit department directed the secretary of Directorate of Higher Education to instruct the colleges to make all necessary records available to the audit team.

"I am directed to convey the approval of Competent Authority for conducting a Special Audit on the examination of issues related to 12 colleges (fully funded by the Delhi Government) affiliated with the University of Delhi, as per the status Report of the High Level Committee," read the order dated September 27.

The order further instructed that the concerned colleges provide all records, sitting arrangements and secretarial assistance to the audit team.

Last month, in a joint meeting of the Academic Council (AC) and Executive Council (EC), Delhi University (DU) unanimously accepted the findings of a 10-member committee set up to probe the allegations.

In its report, the committee concluded that no financial irregularities were found in the 12 DU colleges, as alleged by Atishi.

The university said it will request the state government to consider the committee's recommendations and also demanded Atishi to withdraw her letter to the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in which she suggested de-affiliation of the 12 DU colleges.

In December last year, Atishi had flagged "irregularities" in the 12 Delhi University colleges funded by the Delhi government, citing procedural lapses involving hundreds of crores of rupees from the public exchequer.

She suggested either merging the colleges under the Delhi government or allowing the Centre to take full control, in which case the city government would cease funding them.