india

Updated: Apr 12, 2019 21:56 IST

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought the government’s permission to prosecute former Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Naseem Ahmad, and a serving professor, Nazim Ali, in connection with alleged irregularities in the appointment of an assistant finance officer in AMU in 2005.

Ahmad, a retired 1972-batch IAS officer, headed the institution between 2002 and 2007. The agency filed a case against him in January last year.

CBI officials familiar with the matter said the investigation against Ahmad is complete, following which a sanction to prosecute him has been sought from the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry. The ministry will forward the request to the President, who is the appointing authority of VCs in central universities.

Requesting anonymity, a CBI officer said the agency found that Ahmad was not competent to relax the qualifications for appointment of an assistant finance officer and that he deviated from the advertised qualifications and approved the candidature of Shakaib Arsalan without informing the AMU executive council.

“Ahmad clearly violated the AMU Act, which states that the VC doesn’t have discretionary powers,” the officer cited above said.

The agency plans to file a charge sheet against Ahmad as soon as the prosecution sanction is accorded.

When contacted, Ahmad said, “I have already told CBI what I had to. I will defend myself in the court.”

Other than the HRD ministry, CBI has approached the Uttar Pradesh government seeking sanction against Nazim Ali, an economics professor at AMU who was registrar of the university when the alleged irregularities took place, former finance officer Yasmeen Jalal Beg and Arsalan.

Beg and Arsalan were named in the CBI FIR along with Ahmad, but Ali’s connivance in the case was unearthed during the probe, another CBI officer said on condition of anonymity.

When contacted, Ali said, “I was made registrar on a temporary basis for a very short period. The CBI officer had asked me about this appointment but I don’t even remember who this person is. I had no role in it.”

Before filing the FIR, CBI initiated a preliminary enquiry (PE) in 2017, which revealed that the vacancy for the posts of assistant finance officer and deputy finance officer were advertised by AMU on January 1, 2004 and that there were 22 applicants. Of the 22 applicants, nine were found eligible for the post of assistant finance officer but Arsalan was not among them.

Arsalan submitted a representation that his degree of chartered accountant was not being considered equivalent to a post-graduate degree in the short-listing process, despite an AMU notification recognizing these degrees as equivalent. He then requested that he be considered for the interview scheduled on February 3, 2005.

Arsalan’s position was approved by the Vice-Chancellor on behalf of the AMU executive council.