Higher & Technical Education minister Temjen Imna Along said the scholarship issue was being investigated by Lok Ayukta (erstwhile Vigilance Commission) and asserted that no official found guilty would go unpunished.
Addressing media persons after a meeting at the directorate of technical education here on Monday evening, Along said he was not justifying the case, but as Lok Ayukta had taken over the case, truth would ultimately prevail.
He admitted having received the ultimatum of five days, though he was out of station, served by All Nagaland College Students’ Union (ANCSU) for the director of technical education to resign. He, however, remarked that “ANCSU has gone little bit too far” in seeking the director’s resignation.
The minister said the CAG report, on which ANCSU had based its allegation, was taken up by Lok Ayukta, adding the director would not know who the culprits were. He said the department was trying its best to support the students and ensure that their scholarship fund was not misutilised.
He, however, regretted that All Nagaland College Students’ Union had gone to the street and created a negative image of the department.
Lamenting that the public was misled by the union as if this was the current year’s issue, he clarified that issue dated back to 2014-2016 when many of the present officials were not even there in the department while current director Er Arjun Singh was promoted as director only in June 2016.
Along said after the CAG report of 2017 showed the discrepancies, the directorate had “re-compensated” the CAG and “recovered the lost money and it was submitted”. He reiterated that as the issue was in the court of Lok Ayukta and that if any action had to be initiated, Lok Ayukta would recommend that, while assuring that no one would be spared, if found guilty.
Stating that technical students were the department’s utmost priority, Along claimed that the department was working in such a way that there should not be any controversy of the scholarship issue henceforth, adding that he was committed to corruption-free scholarship in the directorate. He also expressed surprise that ANCSU had given its verdict on the street, adding that this was not justified.
On his maintaining silence so long on the issue, the minister explained he was in New Delhi and that as the issue was of 2014-16, he was not aware of it. Further, as the matter had been taken up by Lok Ayukta, ANCSU should not pronounce who was guilty of misusing the scholarship money, he added.
Mentioning that there was none greater than the law, including him and the directorate officials, Along said no one should comment on the issue at the moment unless Lok Ayukta came out with its verdict. “Whatever verdict is given will be made known, but until the director is proved guilty, he is innocent,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, reacting to Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation’s (NVCO) allegation of appointing non-indigenous person as director of Kelhoshe Polytechnic Aitozu (KPA), department officials clarified that when the polytechnic was established in 1972, there was no local person with requisite technical background to teach.
And that was how Er. Arjun Singh, through seniority and promotion, became the director.
Senior department officials and principals of various polytechnics were also present at the press briefing.
KPA to be accredited: On the other hand, after 47 years of its establishment, KPA will be accredited under National Board of Accreditation (NBA).
Along informed newsmen that the KPA principal would file for the accreditation on June 4, adding that once the accreditation was done, it would become a full-fledged engineering college.