RU VC's last-moment appointment illegal: Ministry

Ignoring the instructions of the ministry concerned, outgoing Vice Chancellor of Rajshahi University Prof M Abdus Sobhan has appointed persons in various posts illegally on the last working day of his tenure, according to the education ministry.

Authorities have launched an investigation into alleged irregularities made by Prof M Abdus Sobhan, the outgoing vice-chancellor (VC) of Rajshahi University (RU), through recruitments of over 100 people amid a government sanctioned hiring freeze.

The Education Ministry on Thursday formed a four-member probe body following a clash over the mass recruitments on his last day in office, which the authorities have found illegal.

The skirmish took place between groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League, RU teachers and employees, and jobseekers in the afternoon, according to media reports.

The probe committee is headed by University Grants Commission (UGC) Member Dr Muhammed Alamgir. The other members are UGC Member Dr Md Abu Taher, Secondary and Higher Education Division (SHED) Joint Secretary Md Zakir Hossain Akanda and UGC Director Jaminur Rahman.

The SHED office order issued in this regard said the UGC had found evidence of previous irregularities in its investigations into Prof Sobhan.

Afterwards, the government on December 10 last year had asked the VC to halt all recruitments at the university.

The committee has been given seven working days to submit its findings.

The ministry in a statement said the VC recruited 140 people amid the ban and that's why the appointments are illegal.

The government also tasked Pro-VC Prof Ananda Kumar Saha with carrying out the VC’s routine jobs.

Prof Sobhan became the RU VC in 2009 and served until 2013 in the first stint. The government made him VC of the university again in 2017.

On his way out of the RU campus with a police escort in the afternoon for his home, Prof Sobhan told journalists that he would address the recruitment issue later, according to media reports.