HOW ASSISTANT PROFESSERS RECRUITMENT SCAM RUNNING UNINTERRUPTED IN INDIAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES ?

 

There are several thousands of Universities and several lakhs Colleges affiliated to these Universities in India. All Universities and Colleges recruit the entry level teachers in Universities and Colleges as Assistant Professors. These Assistant Professors are further promoted to Associate Professors and Professors in due course of time.

University Grants Commission has framed Guidelines for recruitment of Assistant Professors in Colleges and Universities. But most of the Guidelines of UGC are flouted by these Universities and Colleges while making the recruitment of Assistant Professors.

Over a period of time, the recruitment of Assistant Professors has become a big scam and a major source of corruption for the Governing Bodies of the Colleges and Universities.

Let us understand how this Assistant Professors Recruitment Scam is running without any scrutiny from the higher authorities. First of all, Guidelines of the University Grants Commission for recruitment of Assistant Professors are not clear. Secondly, whatever guidelines are given by the UGC, the same are not followed by the Universities and Colleges while conducting the recruitment of Assistant Professors. For example, UGC has given the Guideline that for Assistant Professor, there is no requirement of PHD Degree. If any candidate is Post Graduate and have passed UGC NET examination, shall be eligible to apply for Assistant Professor’s job. But Universities and Colleges have found a way to circumvent this Guideline. For example, they are inviting applications for the 100 posts of Assistant Professors. In response to their advertisement they are getting around 10000 Applications. Since they are making direct recruitment based on the interview only, they can not call all the 10000 candidates for interview. To reduce the number of eligible candidates, they themselves have devised a shortlisting criteria in which eligible number of applicants are reduced from 10000 to around 1000. In this shortlisting process, whosoever is possessing the PHD Degree, apart from the criteria prescribed by UGC, shall be called for interview. This is clear violation of UGC Guideline because in this process, all those candidates who are holding PHD degree, have cleared UGC NET Examination and are Post Graduate shall be eligible for interview, which was never the intention of the UGC.

Now let us come to second part of the scam. All colleges affiliated to any university are issuing separate advertisements for the positions to be filled in each college. For example, there is some ABC Central University and there are 1000 colleges affiliated to this University. Assuming that each college require 100 Assistant Professors, there is total requirement of 100000 Assistant Professors across all the 1000 Colleges. But instead of inviting applications for 100000 Assistant Professors in a single advertisement, 1000 colleges will release 1000 advertisements inviting applications for 100 professors each. Governing Body of each college arranging direct interview for these positions and recruitments are made solely on the basis of direct interviews.

 

What is the  ideal solution for stopping this scam ? This is very simple. If we continue with the above example, University should have released one single advertisement for all the 100000 positions of Assistant Professors on behalf of all the affiliated colleges. After receipt of the applications, University should have conducted a written examination in order to short list the candidates. Those shortlisted candidates should have been called for the interview before a selection committee constituted by the University and the candidates selected by this selection committee should be provided to individual colleges as per their original requirement. This transparent process has already been started by the Uttar Pradesh Government, where U.P. Higher Education Commission is recruiting the Assistant Professors for Unaided Non-Govt. Colleges of State and U.P. Public Service Commission is recruiting the Assistant Professors for the Govt. Colleges of the State, through a single advertisement and shortlisting the candidates based on the written examination, to make the selection process transparent and corruption free.

 

Why other state Governments and Universities in India are not replicating the process adopted by Uttar Pradesh Government is a million dollar question? Union Education Ministry as well as University Grants Commission, may look into this recruitment scam which is running uninterrupted for the last several decades and find out a solution on the lines of Uttar Pradesh so that all the recruitments of Assistant Professors from now onwards are made in the transparent manner without any scope of corruption in their appointments.

(My this article was first published in Times of India on 12 October 2022 at the following link:

Assistant professors recruitment scam : How to stop it ? (indiatimes.com)

Waqf Act,1995 : A Tool given to Waqf Boards to snatch the property of Hindus ?

 

Waqf Act was first passed by the Parliament in 1954. Subsequently it was repealed and a new Waqf Act was passed in 1995 which gave more powers to Waqf Boards. In 2013, this Act was further amended to give unlimited powers to Waqf Boards to snatch anyone’s property,which even could not be challenged in any court of law. In March 2014, just before the commencement of Loksabha Elections, Congress Party gifted 123 prime properties in Delhi to Delhi Waqf Board by using this law. Due to this black law, thousands of acres of land of Hindus have been snatched away in the country so far. Recently Tamilnadu waqf Board has declared 6 Villages of Tamilnadu, including a 1500 years old Hindu Temple as Waqf property.

 

Simply put, the Waqf Board has unlimited powers to claim properties in the name of Muslim charity. But to understand how he got this right, we have to turn the pages of history.

 

In fact, the Hindus who came to India after partition from Pakistan, their properties in Pakistan were occupied by the Muslims and the Government of Pakistan. But the Government of India gave the land of Muslims who had gone from India to Pakistan to the Waqf Boards. After which the Waqf Board Act was made in the year 1954. But in the year 1995, by changing the Waqf Board Act, the Waqf Boards were given unlimited rights to acquire land. After which the property of the Waqf Board doubled during the day and quadrupled at night.

  

According to the data of Waqf Management System of India, at present there are total 8,54,509 properties with Waqf Boards which are spread over more than eight lakh acres of land. You will be surprised to know that after the Army and Railways, most of the land is with the Waqf Boards.

 

In the year 2009, the properties of the Waqf Board were spread over four lakh acres of land. Which has now more than doubled. Whereas the land in the country is the same as it was before. Still, how is the Waqf Board's land increasing? Wherever the Waqf Board gets the boundary wall of the cemetery done in the country, it considers the land around it as its property. Similarly, illegal shrines and mosques are gradually declared by the Waqf Board as their property. In simple language, people call this encroachment and the Waqf Board has got the right to this encroachment.

 

Section 3 of the Waqf Act, 1995 states that if the Waqf “thinks” that the land belongs to a Muslim, then it is the property of the Waqf. It should be noted here that just “thinking of Waqf” is enough, Waqf Board does not need any proof for this. If Waqf accepts that your property is not yours but Waqf Board's, then you cannot even go to court. You can approach the Waqf Tribunal Court.

 

Section 85 of the Waqf Act states that if you cannot satisfy the Waqf Board Tribunal that it is your own land, then you will be ordered to vacate the land. The decision of the Tribunal will be final. No court, not even the Supreme Court, can change the decision of the Waqf Tribunal.

 

Section 40 of the Waqf Act states that when the Waqf Board lays a claim on the land of a person, it is not the responsibility of the Waqf Board to prove the claim on the land, but the real owner of the land has to prove the ownership of his land.

 

That is, if the Waqf Board claims any land, then understand that the Waqf Board has become the owner of the land.

 

How a religious law like Waqf Act has been made applicable in a secular country like India,  is shocking and surprising. The question is why there is no such act for Hindus, Christians and Sikhs? Why only for Muslims? See the irony that in the year 1991 the Places of Worship Act was made which says that the religious places which existed at the time of independence of the country will be retained as it is. At the same time, in 1995, the Waqf Act comes into force, which gives the right to the Waqf Board across the country to claim its rights on any property and the aggrieved party cannot even appeal in any court of the country against this snatching of the property by the Waqf Board.

 

It is strange to hear that such an act exists in a secular country. Whereas there is no such act in any Muslim country. Muslim countries like Turkey, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq have neither a Waqf Board nor a Waqf Law. There should be no place for Waqf Act in India also. The government should repeal the Waqf Act as the same is clearly unconstitutional.

(My this article was first published in Times of India on 26 September 2022 at the following link:

Waqf Act,1995: A Tool given to Waqf Boards to snatch the property of Hindus ? (indiatimes.com)

HAS AGRICULTURAL INCOME BECOME A TOOL FOR MONEY LAUNDERING IN INDIA ?

 

Agricultural income earned by a taxpayer in India is exempt under Section 10(1) of the Income Tax Act,1961. What is more shocking and surprising is that this so called agricultural income is tax free without any limit. You can have unlimited amount of agricultural income without paying even a single rupee towards income tax.

 

While income tax is levied on all types of incomes from all the persons, why Government is not imposing any income tax on agricultural income, is a million dollar question. Some people are under the wrong impression that our Government is very considerate and sympathetic towards the farmers community and do not want to impose income tax on agricultural income of farmers. However, this is completely untrue. Had it been the intention of the Government to provide the relief to farmers by not subjecting them to income tax, it could have been done by fixing a threshold for tax free agricultural income. If some type of income is made completely tax free without any limit, it clearly means that the farmers are not the real beneficiaries of this tax exemption and there is a larger conspiracy for providing this exemption of unlimited amount, by making a provision for the same in the Income Tax Act.

 

You will be surprised to note that no political party, irrespective of its ideology, never wants to bring the agricultural income into the tax net. You must have witnessed that when Bills relating to increase of salaries and allowances are introduced in the parliament or assemblies, these bills are instantly passed unanimously, with all political parties happily supporting the same. This very same principle applies to total tax exemption of Agricultural Income. Since all the politicians (irrespective of their political ideology) are the real beneficiaries of this unlimited tax exemption, they are happily enjoying it. Agricultural Income is being used as a tool to convert black money into white money for the last 75 years. Most of the politicians and the persons patronised by these politicians are misusing the “Agricultural Income” route for conversion of their black money into white money.

 

Income Tax Department and the officers sitting in the income tax department are fully aware of this misuse of tax exemption on agricultural income but they prefer to remain silent on this “Tax Anarchy”, due to political reasons. If some honest officer tries to scrutinize the tax exemption on agricultural income, then entire political system begins to harass him and the officer concerned is persecuted, suspended and even dismissed from the service.

 

Few years back Central Government has compulsorily retired 27 senior officers from various Government Departments including Income Tax, Customs & Excise Departments. Out of these 27 officers, one senior officer was investigating the agricultural income tax exemption misuse by a former finance minister in the previous Government. There are several detailed videos of this officer available on the social media, wherein the officer is explaining how the former finance minister of the previous Government was misusing the agricultural income tax exemption to convert his black money into white money. Since the officer concerned has now been sacked, it can be safely presumed that the investigation being carried out by that officer has also died its natural death.

 

Before presentation of the Union Budget every year, Government invites suggestions from all stakeholders to give their suggestions for the Budget to increase the overall tax revenue. For the last 20 years, I am giving this suggestion to Government every year that Agricultural Income should be brought into tax net. If the intention of the Government is to provide tax relief to farmers, then that can be provided by prescribing a threshold exemption limit for the agricultural income. But why any Government will accept any such suggestions, when their own interests are at stake.

 

How long our Government will continue to provide this tool for Money Laundering, is a question, which is being asked by other taxpayers as the burden of this this blanket tax exemption is being shared by tax paying citizens of the country.

(My this article was first published in the Times of India on 17 September 2022 at the following link:

Has agricultural income become a tool for money laundering in India? (indiatimes.com)

WHY INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS ARE ACTING AS “PUPPETS” OF THE MANAGEMENT ?

 

* There are around 7000 Listed Companies and 66000 unlisted companies in India. All listed companies and a majority of unlisted Public Limited Companies are required to have Independent Directors on their Board as per the Companies Act, 2013 as well as in terms of the Listing Agreement of Stock Exchanges.

*The basic intention and spirit behind appointing the Independent Directors on the Boards of Companies is to ensure that the operations of these entities are monitored by Independent experts because these Companies are running on the funds invested by the general public and the funds borrowed from the Financial Institutions and Banks.

* If the really "Independent" persons are appointed on the Board of these Companies, which was the true intention and spirit of law, it would mean that there will be no misuse and diversion of public money and funds borrowed from the Banks and the Financial Institutions.

*Companies Act, 2013 provides a negative list of persons who could  not be appointed as Independent Directors. Apart from this list, Promoters and Companies are free to appoint any person of their choice as Independent Director. This freedom given to the promoters and Companies defeats the very purpose for which provision has been made in the law for appointing the Independent Directors.

* Since these so called "Independent directors" are appointed by the promoters   of the Companies, it is not possible that they will discharge their duties in the "independent" manner and in all likelihood, they will act as “Puppets” as per the wishes of the promoters of the companies.

* It is not that the so called “Independent” Directors, presently appointed by the Promoters of the Companies are not competent to check the misappropriation or diversion of funds from these Companies. They are not able to do the same as they are forced to work under the influence of the promoters who have appointed them.

 

NEED FOR "REALLY INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS":

* It is clear that presently "Independent Directors" appointed by the listed Companies are not really independent in the true spirit. Listed Companies are indulging in all types of diversion of public money and even the funds borrowed from the Government Banks and Financial Institutions. There are thousands of such cases where Companies have diverted and misappropriated the public money and these so called "Independent Directors" remained mute spectator of this illegal act of the promoters. I will just give one example to show how Companies are taking the general public and Government, both for a ride despite there being "Independent Directors" on their Boards.

                                                  

* I will try to illustrate how general public is being cheated with the help of an example. In the year 2006 the Deccan Aviation Limited promoted by Captain G.R. Gopinath came out with an IPO at a hefty price of Rs.148 per share. After few months in 2007, Captain Gopinath sold the controlling stake of this Company to Vijay Mallaya who was running an unlisted Company Kingfisher Airlines Limited.

Eventually the company promoted by Captain Gopinath lost its existence within a period of one year and got merged into the Kingfisher Airlines Limited. What happened thereafter, is a sad history for general public who invested their hard earned money into the Company. Kingfisher has already stopped its operations long time back and the investment made by the public became zero even before Vijay Mallaya left the country.

Retail investors who invested Rs. 14800 in 2006 have been left with empty hands and they have no recourse available with them to recover their lost money. Unfortunately, this is not the isolated case. We may find thousands of such cases, if we have the time to dig into the records of wrongdoings of the companies. Kingfisher has not only diverted all the public money, but also owes more than Rs.7500 crores to Banks and Financial institutions. My question is what were these so called "Independent " Directors were doing all these years when the Company was diverting/misappropriating the money belonging to the public and the Government Banks and Financial Institutions ?

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION ?

* There is an urgent need to set up an "Authority for Appointment of Independent Directors", which should function as an autonomous body of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This Authority will discharge the following functions:

1. To maintain the Data Bank of the experts from the different fields, who are eligible to be appointed on the Boards of the listed Companies and Banks as per the provisions of the Companies Act,2013.

2. After the Authority comes into existence, promoters of the listed Companies will not be able to appoint the Independent Directors on their own and will invariably request the Authority to nominate a person from the Data Bank whenever there is any vacancy of Independent Director in the Company.

3. All Independent Directors will be appointed by the Authority and will be accountable to the Authority only. These Directors will send a written report to the Authority after attending the each and every Board Meeting of the Company and will list out their observations on the discussions and decisions made in the meeting. The Authority may prescribe a format for this "Report from the Independent Director".

4. After receipt of the Report from the Independent Directors, Authority will make a scrutiny of the same to know whether it has any negative or adverse observations regarding the operations or finances of the Company and will forward the same to SEBI or some other regulatory body so that timely action could be taken on the findings of the Report. If it is in the interest of the public, the Authority can make public the observations of this Report in full or in part.

                                                  

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR BENEFITS OF APPOINTING REALLY INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS WHO WILL NOT ACT AS “PUPPETS”

1. When Directors are appointed by the Authority and not by the Promoters, they will be able to act in truly "Independent" manner, which is the true spirit of law and is the need of the hour.

2. Listed Companies are diverting and misappropriating a huge amount of public money and the funds borrowed from Banks and Financial Institutions as illustrated above in the Kingfisher example. Such types of misappropriations and diversions will stop to a larger extent if there are "truly independent directors" on the Boards of the Companies.

3. When everybody will come to know that the Independent Directors are being appointed by some autonomous body, the confidence and trust of the General Public as well as of the Institutional Investors will increase manifold which will attract more investment into the Country, giving a boost to the economy.

4. Independent Directors will be able to monitor and check the misappropriation and diversion of the borrowed funds from the Banks and Financial Institutions and therefore there will be substantial decrease in the NPAs of the Bank.

5. Few years back CMD of Syndicate Bank was caught red handed by accepting bribe from the CMDs of some listed companies. With the appointment of Independent Directors on the Boards of the Banks, such corrupt practices will be checked to a greater extent and there will be significant improvement in the asset quality of the Banks.

6. Independent Directors will be able to monitor and check the business operations of the Company and Companies will not be able to "understate" their profits by increasing the expenses of the Company by putting "Bogus and Fictitious" expenses. This will increase, both direct and indirect tax revenue for the Government and will be able to check the generation of black money into the system.

It is hoped that sooner or later Ministry of Corporate Affairs will have to implement these suggestions so that Independent Directors could actually act as ‘Independent’ instead of acting as ‘Puppets’ in the hands of Company Management.

 (My this article was first published in Times of India on 9 September 2022 at the following link:   

  Why Independent directors are acting as ‘puppets’ of the management? (indiatimes.com)                                

 

                                                                                       -RAJEEV GUPTA

 

 

WHY EVERYTHING IS NOT RIGHT AT DMIC IITGNL ?

 

Although there are a total of four Industrial Development Authorities in Gautam Buddha Nagar District of Uttar Pradesh, but most people only know about the Noida Authority, Greater Noida Authority and Yamuna Expressway Authority -Very few people know about the fourth Industrial Development Authority which is DMIC IITGNL ( Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Integrated Industrial Township Greater Noida Limited). Actually the office of this authority is also inside the office of Greater Noida Authority and the management of Greater Noida Authority is controlling and managing all the affairs of this Authority. The misdeeds of this authority are not coming in front of the Public and the State Government is also completely unaware and oblivious to the strange adventures of this authority. DMIC IITGNL also refuses to answer the questions asked under the Right to Information Act to hide its misdeeds - The questions asked through RTI are not answered satisfactorily.

 

Significantly, DMIC IITGNL has been established under the Companies Act,2013 and all the rules and regulations of the Companies Act, 2013 are applicable to it. But most of the company laws are not being followed in this authority. According to section 203(1) of the Companies Act, the appointment of full time CEO and full time CFO is mandatory in this company (Authority) but full time CEO has not been appointed in the Company from the very beginning and the CEO of Greater Noida Authority is looking after the work of CEO of this authority on part time basis. Similarly, there is no full time CFO in this company and DGM Finance of Greater Noida Authority has been made the CFO of this authority on part time basis. With no  full time CEO and full time CFO, how this Authority is operating is anybody’s guess. The company has hired a full time Chief Financial Officer couple of times for some time, but because the CFO was advising the company management to work according to rules and regulations and was becoming a hindrance to the company management, he was asked to leave the Company.  The company (Authority) has opted for the CAG appointed Auditor only in 2021, whereas the company is running since 2016 and company should have opted for the CAG appointed Auditor in 2016 itself. The CFO who was instrumental in the appointment of CAG Auditor in 2021,was also shown the door by the management as he was very pro-actively ensured that the financial statements and affairs of the company are audited by the CAG appointed Auditor only.

 

The misdeeds of this authority do not end here. The main task of the authority is to develop the industrial township and for that the land is to be sold for the industry. But the industrial land, which was costing around Rs 20000 per square meter, was sold by the authority at throwaway prices at an average price of only 5250 square meter, thereby causing huge financial loss to the Government Revenue.

 

It is not that the Industrial Land of Authority  was being sold at a throwaway prices unintentionally or accidentally. It was clear that all this was being done deliberately with the intention of defrauding the government exchequer.

 

In fact, it is the work of the Chief Financial Officer of the Authority to decide at what rate the land of the Authority should be sold, but most of the time the Chief Financial Officer was not appointed in the Authority. The big question is that when the Greater Noida Authority itself was selling its industrial land at a rate of about Rs 20000 per square meter, then why the Land of DMIC IITGNL, which was much superior, was sold at throwaway prices of around Rs.5250 per square meter ?

 

In 2019, the authority appointed a Chief Financial Officer on contract basis. The new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), immediately after the joining raised the same issue vigorously with the CEO of the company and explained how the cost of land in the company's township is much more than its selling price. The CFO also proposed to increase the land prices to about Rs 20000 per square meter, but due to some pretext or the other, the Board of Directors of the company was reluctant to increase the rate of land. In 2021 the assignment of Land Rate Revision was entrusted to a Committee and the Committee further assigned this work to a Private Consultant. Before the Land Rate Revision Committee could decide the revised rates of the land allotment, company management demanded the resignation of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), saying that the company no longer needed his services,so he should now resign.

It can be seen from the above, that at first the company management does not keep any full time CFO in the company and even if it does, it keeps on looking for excuses to get him out as soon as possible because the CFO who by virtue of being a  chartered accountant and also the expert on financial matters,kept commenting on all the financial irregularities of the company which are not liked by the company management.

The company has also sold land to some industrial houses along with additional FAR without charging any extra amount for the additional FAR.

 

The question is that when all these financial irregularities were happening in this authority, why is the state government not aware of it even today ? With the formation of the authority in 2016, the government itself should have ensured that the full time CEO is appointed in the authority, who looks after the work of the authority seriously. At the same time, the government should also ensure that it appoints a senior chartered accountant as the CFO of the company so  that he can do his work independently without any undue pressure from the company management.

 

The result of all these misdeeds is that the work of the Industrial Township development, which should have been completed long time back, is still pending.

वित्तीय घोटालों और अनियमितताओं में घिरी हुई है उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार की इंडस्ट्रियल डेवलपमेंट अथॉरिटी

 

गौतम  बुद्ध नगर में वैसे तो कुल चार प्राधिकरण हैं लेकिन ज्यादातर लोगों को सिर्फ नॉएडा अथॉरिटी ,ग्रेटर नॉएडा अथॉरिटी और यमुना एक्सप्रेसवे अथॉरिटी के बारे में ही जानकारी है- चौथी अथॉरिटी जिसका नाम  DMIC IITGNL है ,उसके बारे में बहुत कम लोगों को जानकारी है. दरअसल इस अथॉरिटी का ऑफिस भी ग्रेटर नॉएडा अथॉरिटी के ऑफिस के अंदर ही है और ग्रेटर नॉएडा अथॉरिटी के मैनेजमेंट ने इस पर पूरी तरह कब्ज़ा किया हुआ है जिसकी वजह से इस अथॉरिटी के कारनामे जनता के सामने  नहीं आ रहे हैं और प्रदेश सरकार भी इस अथॉरिटी के अजीबोगरीब कारनामों से पूरी तरह अनजान और बेखबर बनी हुई है. अथॉरिटी अपने कारनामों को छुपाने के लिए सूचना के अधिकार कानून के अंतर्गत पूछे गए सवालों का भी जबाब देने में आनाकानी करती है -आर टी आई के जरिये पूछे गए सवालों का या तो अथॉरिटी द्वारा कोई संतोषजनक जबाब दिया ही नहीं जाता है और अगर दिया भी जाता है तो वह आधा अधूरा और असंतोषजनक होता है .

गौरतलब बात यह है कि DMIC IITGNL की स्थापना कंपनी कानून के तहत की गयी है और इस पर कंपनी अधिनियम,2013 के सभी कायदे कानून लागू होते हैं. लेकिन ज्यादातर कंपनी कानूनों का इस अथॉरिटी में पालन ही नहीं किया जा रहा है -कंपनी कानून की धारा 203(1) के अनुसार इस कंपनी(अथॉरिटी) में फुल टाइम सी ई ओ और फुल टाइम सी एफ ओ की नियुक्ति अनिवार्य है लेकिन सन 2016 से जब से यह कंपनी बनी है, इसमें फुल टाइम सी ई ओ नियुक्त नहीं किया गया है और ग्रेटर नॉएडा अथॉरिटी के सी ई ओ ही  इस अथॉरिटी के सी ई ओ का काम खुद देख रहे हैं. इसी तरह इस कंपनी में फुल टाइम सी एफ ओ भी नहीं है और ग्रेटर नॉएडा अथॉरिटी के डी जी एम फाइनेंस को ही गैर कानूनी तरीके से इस अथॉरिटी का सी एफ ओ बना दिया गया है.लगभग तीन हज़ार करोड़ की पूँजी वाली यह अथॉरिटी बिना फुल टाइम सी ई ओ और बिना फुल टाइम सी एफ ओ के एकदम भगवान भरोसे चल रही है-कंपनी में औपचारिकता के लिए जो 5-6 कर्मचारी रखे भी हुए हैं, वे सभी कॉन्ट्रैक्ट पर रखे हुए हैं-कंपनी ने एक दो बार कुछ समय के लिए फुल टाइम सी एफ ओ भी रखे थे लेकिन क्योंकि वह सभी सी एफ ओ नियम कानून और कायदे से काम करने की हिदायत कंपनी मैनेजमेंट को दे रहे थे और कम्पनी मैनेजमेंट के लिए रोड़ा बन रहे थे, इसलिए उन्हें किसी न किसी बहाने से कुछ समय बाद ही जबरन इस्तीफ़ा लेकर निकल दिया जाता रहा है. कंपनी (अथॉरिटी) ने सी ए जी का ऑडिटर भी 2021 में नियुक्त करवाया है, जबकि कंपनी 2016 से चल रही है -जिस सी एफ ओ ने जोर लगवाकर सी ए जी का ऑडिटर कंपनी के नियुक्त करवाया था, उसे भी कंपनी के मैनजेमेंट ने जबरन इस्तीफ़ा लेकर बाहर का रास्ता दिखा दिया है

 

इस अथॉरिटी के कारनामे यहीं ख़त्म नहीं होते हैं. अथॉरिटी का मुख्य काम इंडस्ट्रियल टाउनशिप का विकास करना है और उसके लिए इंडस्ट्री के लिए जमीन को बेचना है. लेकिन जिस औद्योगिक जमीन की लागत ही लगभग 20000 रुपये प्रति वर्गमीटर आ रही थी उस जमीन को अथॉरिटी ने औने पौने दामों पर मात्र 5250 के औसत दाम पर बेंच दिया और इस तरह अरबों खरबों का चूना सरकारी राजस्व को लगा दिया गया.

 

ऐसा नहीं है कि 20000 रुपये प्रति वर्ग मीटर  वाली इंडस्ट्रियल लैंड अथॉरिटी ने अनजाने ने या किसी गलती में 5250 रुपये के औसत रेट पर  बेच दी हो- ऐसा लगता है कि यह सब  सरकारी ख़ज़ाने को चूना लगाने की नीयत से जानबूझकर किया जा रहा था.

 

दरअसल अथॉरिटी की जमीन किस रेट पर बिकनी चाहिए यह तय करने का काम अथॉरिटी के मुख्य वित्तीय अधिकारी का होता है लेकिन अथॉरिटी में ज्यादातर समय मुख्य वित्तीय अधिकारी की नियुक्ति ही नहीं की गयी. बड़ा सवाल यह भी है कि जब ग्रेटर नॉएडा अथॉरिटी खुद अपनी इंडस्ट्रियल लैंड लगभग 20000 रुपये प्रति वर्ग मीटर के भाव पर बेच रही थी तो इस अथॉरिटी की जमीन जो उससे कहीं अधिक बेहतर थी, उसे औने पौने दामों में क्यों बेच दिया गया ?

 

2019 में अथॉरिटी ने कॉन्ट्रैक्ट पर एक मुख्य वित्तीय अधिकारी की नियुक्ति की. नए मुख्य वित्तीय अधिकारी ( सी एफ ओ ) ने सबसे पहले कंपनी के सी ई ओ के सामने इसी मुद्दे को जोर शोर से उठाया और यह बताया कि किस तरह से कम्पनी की टाउनशिप की जमीन लागत से भी काम दामों में कौड़ियों के भाव औने पौने दामों पर बेची जा रही है. सी एफ ओ  ने जमीन के दामों को बढाकर लगभग 20000 रुपये प्रति वर्ग मीटर करने का प्रस्ताव भी दिया लेकिन किसी न किसी बहाने से कम्पनी का बोर्ड ऑफ़ डायरेक्टर्स जमीन के रेट बढ़ाने में आनाकानी करता रहा-2021 में कम्पनी में जमीन के रेट को तय करने का काम सी एफ ओ से लेकर एक प्राइवेट कंसल्टैंट को दे दिया और मुख्य वित्तीय अधिकारी (सी एफ ओ) से इस्तीफा यह कहकर मांग लिया कि कम्पनी को अब उनकी सेवाओं की जरूरत नहीं है लिहाज़ा उन्हें अब अपना इस्तीफ़ा दे देना चाहिए.

 

इस तरह से यह देखा जा सकता है कि पहले तो कम्पनी मैनेजमेंट कम्पनी में कोई फुल टाइम सी एफ ओ रखती ही नहीं है और अगर रख भी लेती है तो उसे जल्द से जल्द बाहर निकालने का बहाना खोजती रहती है क्योंकि सी एफ ओ जो कि एक चार्टर्ड अकाउंटेंट भी होता है, वह कम्पनी की सभी वित्तीय अनियमितताओं पर अपनी टीका टिप्पणी करता रहता है जो कम्पनी मैनेजमेंट को पसंद नहीं आती हैं.

 

कम्पनी ने कुछ औधोगिक घरानों को  जमीन के साथ साथ  एफ ए आर (FAR) भी मुफ्त में दे दी है जबकि इसके लिए पैसे लिए जाने चाहिए थे

 

सवाल यह है कि यह सब वित्तीय अनियमितताएं और घोटाले इस अथॉरिटी में हो रहे थे लेकिन प्रदेश सरकार को उसकी भनक आज तक भी क्यों नहीं है ? 2016 में अथॉरिटी बनने के साथ ही सरकार को यह खुद सुनिश्चित करना चाहिए था  कि अथॉरिटी में फुल टाइम सी ई ओ की नियुक्ति हो जो अथॉरिटी का काम काज गंभीरता से देखे. साथ ही सरकार को यह भी सुनिश्चित करना चाहिए कि वह खुद किसी सीनियर चार्टर्ड अकाउंटेंट को अथॉरिटी का सी एफ ओ भी (CFO) नियुक्त करे जिसकी रिपोर्टिंग चाहे मैनेजमेंट को ही हो लेकिन मैनेजमेंट के पास उसे निकालने का अधिकार ना हो ताकि वह स्वतंत्र रूप से अपना काम कर सके और कम्पनी में हो रही सभी वित्तीय अनियमितताओं और घोटालों का  पर्दाफाश कर सके.

इन सभी घपलों और घोटालों का नतीजा यह निकला है कि इस इंडस्ट्रियल  टाउनशिप डवलपमेंट का काम जो काफी समय पहले ही निपट जाना चाहिए था,अभी तक लटका पड़ा हुआ है.