Cheating case against SP College

Social welfare inspector Subhash Atmaram Salunke (53) lodged the complaint at Vishrambaug police station on Tuesday. Police said that as per the state government resolution,colleges are not supposed to charge fees from SC students. The Social Welfare Department gives grants to the colleges for education of SC students.

The Social Welfare Department had received a complaint from the Republican Party of India (RPI) against S P College and Modern College,Ganeshkhind that they had accepted fees from Scheduled Caste students. The department said it initiated an inquiry against the two colleges.

A team led by social welfare inspector Salunke went to S P College on August 22 to audit the accounts and check documents pertaining to the case. The inquiry revealed that S P College accepted a fee of Rs 29.1 lakh from 163 SC students between 2006 and 2011.

Salunke submitted his report to the department,following which a police complaint under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC was lodged against S P College authorities and staff handling scholarship process between 2006 and 2011. Police inspector Rajendra Savant is investigating the case.

Savant said,“The complaint mentions that the social welfare department had given a grant of Rs 2,61,577 to S P College between 2006 and 2009,as educational expenses of SC students. Still the college allegedly accepted fees from SC students.”

Dilip Sheth,principal of S P college said,“There is no misappropriation of funds by the college. After getting grant from Social Welfare Department,we reimbursed the fees to SC students. We have maintained the receipts of these transactions. But fees were not given back to the students who did not fill the forms required to complete the reimbursement procedure. We went with the procedure followed in most colleges in the state. But only we are being targeted and the reasons are understood…”

“The social welfare department team came to the college in August to audit the accounts. But they did not give the audit report to us and filed a police complaint,which is not as per procedure. Had they contacted us with the audit report,we would have cleared their queries,” Sheth said.

“The Government Resolution in this issue is a matter of debate. We would be taking up the issue for discussion at the principals forum,” he added.