Allahabad University (AU) Vice-Chancellor R L Hangloo is learnt to have resigned on Tuesday. He was appointed in December 2015 and had a year left in his term. The Indian Express could not reach Hangloo for a comment on Wednesday. It is not clear whether the government has accepted his resignation. Hangloo was under the ministry’s scanner for alleged financial, academic and administrative irregularities, and was issued a showcause notice in 2016. Allegations against him include: * Illegal appointments in posts such as OSD and sports trainer, which do not exist. * Financial irregularities include monthly expenditure of Rs 10 lakh on personal security of the V-C, and Rs 70 lakh to repair the V-C’s accommodation. * Academic irregularities include mismanagement of the university’s entrance test for undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes. * Unhealthy atmosphere on campus, including prevailing sense of gender insecurity. A government-backed audit of AU in 2017 had said that the university is on the brink of becoming “unviable” and “unworkable”, but it did not hold Hangloo responsible for the institution’s present state. In fact, the audit report observed that there is a deliberate effort by a group of “activist-retired professors” to disrupt the V-C’s work. This was at a time when Hangloo was already under the HRD Ministry’s scanner. In May 2016, Hangloo had accused the Centre of interfering in the institution’s internal matters, only to withdraw the allegation later and blame “political interference” for bringing the varsity’s administrative machinery to a “standstill”. He had made the statement after AU reversed its order on making online entrance tests mandatory for admission to postgraduate courses. This step, Hangloo said, was taken at the behest of the HRD Ministry, which ostensibly gave in to pressure from some BJP MPs. He had even offered to resign at the time.
