Madras varsity funds used as lien to help pvt trust get loan

D Suresh Kumar, TNN 1 November 2009,

CHENNAI: A controversy is raging in the corridors of the
University of Madras over an alleged financial irregularity
in managing funds to the
tune of Rs 5 crore during the previous vice-chancellor
S Ramachandran’s tenure. The matter has now come
under the CBI scanner.

The money, part of a Rs 12-crore deposit
made by the university
in the State Bank of India’s Valasaravakkam branch,
was allegedly put up as lien —
without the knowledge of
university officials —
to help a Bangalore-based private
trust obtain a loan.

When the trust, reportedly managed
by acquaintances of a former DMK Union minister,
defaulted on loan repayment, the bank allegedly
refused to release the deposit (held as lien) on maturity.

While the Madras University Teachers Association has
demanded a probe to ascertain why such a large sum
was transferred from the SBI’s service branch on the
Chepauk campus to the far-off Valasaravakkam branch,
not many past and present senior university officials are
willing to discuss the subject.

However, Ramachandran insisted that the CBI had
given the university a clean chit, and the varsity
had not suffered any loss.

Nonetheless, it is reliably learnt that internal
investigations within the university were stonewalled.