"Drawing from College fund and making expenses without budget approval," Here's a list of allegations against Cachar College Principal

As per the instruction of Deepak Mazumdar, Secretary to Government of Assam, Higher Education Department, Director of Higher Education, Dharma Kanta Mili has reached Silchar and conducting an Enquiry to demystify the turn of events that led to the arrest of the Principal of Cachar College,, Dr. Siddhartha Sankar Nath.

Sources in Dispur informed Barak Bulletin that the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar, Rohan Kumar Jha reported that the Principal of Cachar College kept the centre shut, disobeying the protocol laid by the Government of Assam. He also complained that the examination booklet and other materials were not collected in time. Moreover, violating another norm clearly mentioned in the SOP, the Principal did not go to collect the materials instead delegated the work to someone else.

The DHE has summoned the Principal for enquiry at 10:30 am on August 30. The enquiry started on time and the DHE is looking into the matter.

However, sources in the Cachar College have informed that the ACTA has submitted a detailed list highlighting the irregularities in Principal Nath’s administration.

Here is a part of the list as seen by Barak Bulletin:

1. Since Dr Siddhartha Sankar Nath had joined Cachar College in the post of Principal in October 2019 he has been running finances in utter disregard of all set rules and practices. A peep into the Accounts Department of the College will bring out the veracity of the allegations mentioned below.

2. He has been drawing from the College Fund and making expenses without any budget approval. As a matter of fact, no budget was placed in the GB during the last Fiscal Year, i.e, 2021-22.

3. As per the College Management Rule, the Principal is required to get six monthly internal audit report sent to the DHE after tabling the same in the GB. But the College has not seen any audit exercise since he joined.

4. There is no system bank reconciliation of the accounts in the College which is a serious default needless to say.

5. The Cash Book in the Accounts Department has remained open and without entry for months on as lakhs of rupees are released on the basis of mere chits from the Principal by the Cashier bypassing the office file noting etc and, most importantly, the Accountant. The payment orders towards involving any amount are being issued by the Principal without any back up of requisite papers.

6. An illegal incidental fee of Rs. 200/- is being charged from a large section of students without any receipt by the office staff at the behest of the principal.

7. Lakhs of rupees are being spent on refreshments, lunches, dinners etc without any approval and sans due process.

8. Payments towards non-sanctioned Grade III and Grade IV employees are released with heavy pressure on the College exchequer on a monthly basis in utter contravention of the Govt OM No. AHE. 137/20/19/4, dated 18-02-2019.

9. Sri Kanchan Kumar Nath, a permanent resident of Tripura, is reportedly a first cousin of the Principal. This Kanchan Kumar Nath was brought from outside of Assam by the Principal and appointed in a non-existent and non-sanctioned post of Office Assistant violating the provisions of the Govt OM already quoted above. He is now clearing bills and vouchers amounting to high amounts. An inspection of the vouchers, which is never done as the auditing culture has come to a grinding halt, will bring forth the truth of the allegation.

10. Disturbingly enough, now there are efforts afoot by the Principal to appoint this Kanchan Kumar Nath, who is not a permanent resident of Assam, in a Grade III permanent post in the College. In fact, he has published advertisement for the same reserving the post for the OBC/MOBC (the social category Kanchan Kumar Nath belongs to), whereas as per 100 point Roster this post should have been reserved for the SC.

11. There are reports that this Kanchan Kumar Nath has procured a PRC recently from Karimganj to earn eligibility for the permanent job in Cachar College. This certificate in all likelihood is a forged one. This disturbing revelation of criminal forgery calls for a separate inquiry.

12. He has appointed more than ten employees in non-sanctioned categories against non-existent posts and been paying them at frivolous rates without having any duly approved remuneration structure.