Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Barkatullah University has given Rs 4.86 lakh to five employees who had died. Similarly, Rs 51.65 lakh was given to 69 employees who had retired.
This carried the risk of money given in advance to become irrecoverable. This has been stated in the audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
The report says that that university paid an imprest of Rs 6.60 lakh to 77 employees, 23 of whom were given multiple times by ignoring the directions. The amount was not recovered till the audit.
In 56 cases, Rs 23.15 crore advances were given to agencies for miscellaneous works, which remained unsettled till the audit period.
An amount of Rs 1.28 crore was given to nine colleges including Government Geetanjali College, Government Homeopathic College, Government Nutan College, Government Sarojni Naidu College, Government MVM College, Government NMV Narmadapuram, Government JH College, Betul.
A sum of Rs 4.20 lakh was given to an assistant registrar in 36 instances without settling previous outstanding advances.
Thus, due to negligence of the involved officials, the advances remained to be adjusted.
Shortcomings in NAAC accreditation
University received National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) Grade of B with grade points of 2.50 in 2015 and 2.49 in 2023. Scrutiny of NAAC grade sheet for 2023 showed that university scored above 3.0 in only one criterion, Institutional Values and Best Practices, out of the seven criteria evaluated.
Curricular aspects (Criterion 1): Under the Curriculum Enrichment key indicator, which includes added courses and activities and integration and sensitisation of cross cutting issue, the University received a poor grade of 1.33.
Teaching and evaluation (Criterion 2): University s performance was inadequate in key indicators like student enrolment and profile, teaching learning process grade, showing gaps in the quality and effectiveness of university s teaching and learning practices.
Research, innovations and extension (Criterion 3)
The university’s grades in this area were significantly low, particularly in indicators such as 1.7 in the promotion of research facilities, 2.25 in resource mobilisation for research and 2.05 in research publications and awards. The University also received very poor grade of 0.5 in consultancy and collaboration.
Infrastructure & learning resources (Criterion 4)
The grade for library as a learning resource was remarkably low at 1.45. The peer review conducted also emphasised the need for full computerisation of the library, upgrading it with latest editions of books and installing specialised software for differently abled individuals.
