NEW DELHI: Faced with a series of allegations against Indira Gandhi National Open University vice-chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai, HRD ministry has issued notice to him under section 8(3) of the IGNOU Act.

When contacted by TOI, Pillai denied having received such a notice, but the ministry in a reply to an RTI query admitted sending a notice. Under section 8(3), notice is issued by the Visitor (President) for an inquiry and the university has to reply within 30 days.

Ministry sources said, "We are planning to recommend an inquiry against the VC."
The ministry has also issued an advisory to Pillai asking him to observe the provisions of the IGNOU Act. While Pillai denies having received such an "advisory", the RTI reply by the HRD ministry clearly states that it was issued in July last year.
Before leaving for Paris last week, HRD minister Kapil Sibal also told TOI: "I had called the VC and sought an explanation on a series of allegations. He is alleged to have flouted norms and the statute. He has asked for more time to reply to the allegations." Sources said a meeting will take place after Sibal returns.

But Pillai maintains nothing is amiss and the university is following all rules and statutes of the Act.
The allegations range from appointing people of his choice without following any norms to IGNOU collaborating with private organisations whose students get IGNOU degrees. In case of management course, collaboration with private organisations has been resisted by faculty who maintain that these institutions do not have AICTE approval for starting such a course. The faculty points out that the MoU with organisations like the Ahmedabad Management Association amounts to affiliation, without any control on various academic processes including evaluation. The faculty also objects to IGNOU recognising AMA's degrees of 2007 even though the MoU was signed this year.

Asked about the faculty's objection to the collaboration with AMA and recognising its 2007 degree, Pillai gave a one-line vague answer: "As per the collaboration agreed between the school directors (school of management studies) and the signed MoU."

To the RTI query if the HRD ministry was aware that private organisations were being allowed to offer full-time programmes without making any statutory provision for the same and that these organisations were charging exorbitant fee, the ministry replied in the affirmative and added that an "appropriate communication has been sent to the university".

Ministry sources also refer to the case of decentralised distribution of study materials by the university. Last year, the ministry's financial advisor had written to Pillai saying, "While one is not sure whether the above approach would meet the intended objective of ensuring delivery of study material to the students, IGNOU has committed itself to an expenditure of Rs 25 crore per annum without any detailed analysis of the advantages and difficulties that might be faced in implementing the new system."

source: TOI