Pune’s Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth to deflate mismanagement bubble based on UGC notice
The UGC notice served recently has sought answers to a number of irregularities found in the proceedings of the managing trust which might jeopardise the university status of TMV, located in Mukundnagar.
The 97-year-old Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth (TMV) university, has come under the suspicion of inappropriate appointments and financial mismanagement, among other things and the university grants commission (UGC) has issued a notice to the varsity.
The UGC notice served recently has sought answers to a number of irregularities found in the proceedings of the managing trust which might jeopardise the university status of TMV, located in Mukundnagar.
Officials from Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth have dismissed the allegations made in the notice as baseless.
“We received the notice two months ago, and within a month, we sent out records with justifications to all their questions. Such events create confusion and panic among students and parents, and we do not appreciate that. It has already been a full month, since we have sent our clarification report and no query has come to us from their side,” said Deepak Tilak, vice-chancellor. A committee constituted by the UGC submitted a report to the ministry of human resources in October 2015 for inquiry.
In 2018, the committee further investigated whether the proceedings of the university were in compliance with the UGC rules and submitted a report on the same. Following this, the notice was served to the university. Meanwhile, the university has been taking several efforts to better its overall ranking and get a better national assessment and accreditation council (NAAC) grade. Since UGC and NAAC are separate entities, the vice-chancellor hopes that results will not be influenced based on allegations.“We have provided all the information to the UGC committee justifying all our proceedings. For years, we have been trying to better our grades and this notice will hopefully not create another hurdle.
“Previously with a ‘B’ grade, we were hoping that the NAAC evaluation meet on September 27 -29, might bring a positive outcome and we continue to hope so, especially after the many efforts we have taken to enhance research, academics and infrastructure at the university. NAAC is an autonomous body, and its evaluation is also qualitative. So we hope that things go well this time,” Tilak said.