A 90-year-old retired bureaucrat and freedom fighter,Shankar Adivarekar,on Tuesday staged a dharna on his wheelchair outside the office of the Charity Commissioner,demanding action against the trustees of Chetana Education Trust for their alleged involvement in money laundering and corruption. The nonagenarian,who has been fighting the case since 2001,has now demanded that a hearing in the case be conducted immediately as he wants to end the deep rot in the Trust. Adivarekar and ex-education minister Madhukar Rao Chaudhari established the Trust in 1970,but the former is not a member anymore. Chaudharis son,MLA Shirish Chaudhari,is currently its secretary. Adivarekar said,When we established the trust,there was no management college in the Bandra-Andheri stretch and we wanted to address the education need. However,since 1995,the Trust became a money-making centre,indulging in unethical practices. It is no longer a public Trust,but has turned into a family business. I am left with no other option but to protest. Adivarekar also alleged that the Trust accepts illegal donations for seats,diverts its funds,gives away printing tasks without a tender process and runs unrecognised post-graduate diploma courses. In 2006,I had filed an RTI query to the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). In response,they admitted that the course was unrecognised. I have complained to the Charity Commissioner about these malpractices several times,but they only issued showcause notices and no concrete action was taken, he said. According to Adivarekar,the Trust mostly refrained from replying to his RTI applications but whenever they did,they provided incomplete information. He approached the State Information Commission in 2007 and the Trust was fined Rs 25,000. It was also asked to provide Adivarekar with the information he was seeking. They know I can move court against them and thats why they are not providing me the documents. On Tuesday,the Charity Commissioner heard our case and assured us that he would conduct a hearing of the case on August 1 and see to it that the matter is resolved at the earliest, said Avisha Kulkarni,whose NGO Desh Seva Samiti is supporting Adivarekar. On the other hand,Shirish Chaudhari said Adivarekar has been making such allegations due to insecurity over losing hold on the Trust. Adivarekar has been levelling such allegations against us since 2001. We have faced several inquires and investigations,but we came out clean. We are still ready to face any investigation and will cooperate. The donations we have collected were given to us voluntarily by our patrons for the development of our institutes and not for illegally passing students or for admissions. Adivarekar has now joined forces with another former trustee Premanand Rupwate,whom we had removed from the trust for mismanagement. The two are now working together to malign the Trust, he added.
