Post CBI raids,AICTE to see mass transfers

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal,it is learnt,has ordered mass transfers in the All India Council for Technical Education AICTE...

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal,it is learnt,has ordered mass transfers in the All India Council for Technical Education AICTE,in a move to rid the regulatory body of all those who could be part of the corruption network that has recently been unearthed.

As part of its clean-up drive,the ministry is planning to transfer nearly 50 officials who are on deputation at the AICTE,said sources. While AICTEMember Secretary Narayan Rao is already on his way to suspension,having been in CBI custody for more than two days,the agency has not recommended the suspension of chairman Ram Avtar Yadav.

Sources say that the CBI raids were part of Sibals grand plan to restructure and reform higher education. Minister for State D Purandeshwari is learnt to have written several letters to former HRD minister Arjun Singh about a series of complaints against the AICTE officials that merit strict action. Singh,however,chose not to act on any of these.

Soon after Sibal took over as the new HRD Minister,Purandeshwari apprised him of the complaints against the AICTE officials,the red tapism and corruption that ailed the organisation. That,say sources,was key to Sibal approving the series of CBI raids against the AICTE top brass. The AICTE apart,Sibal is also working on the modalities to set up an independent,overarching regulatory system for higher education that could subsume both the AICTE and the University Grants Commission UGC.

Meanwhile,the CBI,during its investigation,has found that Yadav,Regional Officer Sriom Dalal and Advisor H C Rai have made huge investments in property,as well as deposits in bank accounts and lockers after taking bribes from private institutes and engineering colleges in lieu of giving them affiliations. CBI sources say that R A Yadav is going to be arrested soon. Till now,the CBI has registered three FIRs and raids are being conducted at various offices of AICTE all over India and residences of suspected AICTE officers. The CBI has appealed to people to come forward if they have any complaints against the AICTE regarding demanding of money for approval to colleges and so on.

CAT stays MAEF secretarys removal

New Delhi: Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshids decision to remove the secretary of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation MAEF six months before his tenure ends has run into trouble with the officer approaching the Central Administrative Tribunal CAT and securing a stay on the decision. Asif Iqbal,a 1983-batch Indian Revenue Service officer,was repatriated by the ministry last week without any reason given. Iqbal,whose three-year tenure was to end in January 2010,was served a two-line letter directing him to report to his parent department,sources said. Iqbal,who was appointed secretary of the MAEF by Khurshids predecessor A R Antulay,moved the CAT which stayed the decision and issued a notice to the ministry seeking the grounds of his arbitrary removal. The hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.