Image used for representational purpose

NAGPUR: What could be the expenditure on tea and snacks for a handful of persons over a couple of days? Believe it or not, Nagpur University Board of Studies (BOS) members apparently spent a staggering Rs1.5 lakh on just tea and snacks for their meetings. One of the bills mentioned 99 cups of tea and 25 of coffee for just three BOS members at one meeting, say NU officials.

The bills were referred to vice chancellor SP Kane, who refused to clear them, and sent them back to the concerned officials, seeking an explanation from them. He also ordered an inquiry by the finance department in what appears to be a ‘big scam’.

NU officials said when these bills were submitted to finance and accounts section, its head Raju Hiwase suspected some mischief and brought it to the notice of the VC. “We’ve refused the bills and returned them to concerned department. We’ve sought explanation from them on how tea and coffee bills could be so high. There’s definitely some mischief and it was evident from the bills,” Kane told TOI.

The BOS meetings were held last month to update the syllabus and other issues at NU’s academic section. The members were offered complimentary tea and snacks during the meetings by NU. The officials from concerned section submitted bills of Rs1.5 lakh, which surprised the finance and accounts section counterparts. Even the VC was shocked to see bills of tea and coffee for over Rs1.5 lakh.

A delegation of ABVP under Vaibhav Bawankar met the VC on Thursday and demanded a thorough probe into the entire affair and punishment for the guilty officials. They said that since NU’s funds belonged to the students, the misappropriated amount should be recovered from the concerned officials.

Explaining the procedure, NU officials said all departments seek an advance from its finance section and then submit bills towards expenditure. “When these bills came to us, they were unusual and hard to believe. So we decided to refer the issue to VC,” they said. They added that such things happen in majority of departments as officials inflate bills, but this time they crossed all limits and were caught.

