The Mizoram government has suspended an official for allegedly signing an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a fake institution and causing a loss of nearly Rs 128 lakh to the state exchequer. Additional Secretary for Information and Communication Technology Rotluanga was suspended last evening by the state government.

The officer in 2014, as then Director of Labour, Employment and Industrial Training, had signed a MoU with Kolkata-based Nalanda Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS).

Thirty-two students were send to the institute to study Bachelor of Hotel Management and the cost was borne by the Mizoram Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (MBOCWWB) that disbursed Rs 128.20 lakh for the same during the first year.

However, the students returned to Mizoram without completing the course after finding that the West Bengal government had declared NIAS a 'fake institute' and the standards as claimed on the institute's website was far from true.

Also an ex-officio secretary of the MBOCWWB, Rotluanga has been held responsible for the fiasco.

Student bodies and Opposition parties have demanded the resignation of LE and IT Minister Lalrinmawia Ralte and Mizoram Youth Commission Chairman T Sangkunga, holding them responsible for the plight of the students.