According to a bill listed for debate in the assembly by the Rajasthan government, the private Gurukul University in Sikar district has 62 lecture halls and 38 laboratories with 155 academic blocks spread over 80 acres of land. But the House on Tuesday observed that this “state-of-the-art” university exists only on paper. Due to this the Congress government had to face the brunt. Assembly Speaker CP Joshi asked to make a system to avoid such a situation again.
The Gurukul University Sikar Bill, 2022, which seeks to incorporate Gurukul Educational Institute, Sikar as a university, was introduced on February 24. On Tuesday, the minister in charge of higher education, Rajendra Singh Yadav, was due to move a motion for the passage of the bill. As per the bill, the university has 80.31 acres of land with 28 administrative blocks, which include the offices of the chairperson, president, pro-president, registrar, deputy registrar, assistant registrar, proctor, dean etc. It is spread over 2,053.21 square meters.
The bill claims that the university has 155 academic sections with 62 lecture halls and 38 laboratories, besides tutorial rooms, computer labs, drawing halls, workshops, seminar halls, five common rooms for boys and girls spread over 17,947.93 square meters. rooms, three libraries, three reading rooms, ten professors’ cabins, a language laboratory, etc.
The library holds about 50,000 books in addition to subscriptions to 36 newspapers and magazines, 56 physical magazines and 23 e-magazines – and was inhabited by a teacher/officer on 740.05 square meters, one residential unit each for boys and girls, and A mess and cafeteria are said to be located.
According to the Bill, the total area covered by the residential blocks is 40,70.27 square metres, and the three blocks together have a built-up area of 24,811.46 square metres. The bill claimed that other facilities would include health care, power back-up, projectors in classrooms, fire safety provisions and firing ranges as well as a gymnasium, table tennis, chess, carrom, kabaddi, athletics, yoga, meditation and football. facilities are included.
In the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill, the State Government said: “To keep pace with the rapid development in all fields of knowledge in the world and in the country and to provide state-of-the-art educational facilities to the youth in the State at their doorsteps, world-class modern It is necessary to create research and study centers, so that they can adapt the human resources of them to the liberal economic and social order of the world.
However, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore found that the university did not exist. Rathor’s assembly seat is Churu in Shekhawati region like Sikar, where the university is supposed to exist. While traveling between Churu and Jaipur, Rathore has to pass through Sikar and take the road where the university was supposed to be.
According to Rathore, he visits his constituency “every Saturday” since the assembly session is in Jaipur. The BJP leader said he thought “maybe my eyes have deceived me as I was looking for the infrastructure mentioned in the bill.” He called the local patwari (revenue officer) to take him to the place where the university was supposed to exist.
In the land revenue number listed in the bill, Rathore found vacant land – a small partially built room without a roof with a rusted sliding gate next to it. He clicked pictures as proof.
On Tuesday, Rathore and Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria reached the speaker’s chamber and told him about their “sting”. “It is the duty of the opposition. When the Bill was listed in the list of proceedings, he came and said that you have listed it. And these are the things that they have brought in this Bill. Joshi told The Indian Express.
After this Joshi directed the Sikar District Collector to visit the spot. Once the official confirmed Rathore’s claims, the government was informed and the House moved to withdraw the bill.
Meanwhile, Rathore and Kataria alleged that a major scam in the state’s apex legislative body has almost been stopped. Seeking registration of an FIR on the issue, Rathod alleged that since the Bill has been taken so far, crores of rupees must have been transacted in it.
Kataria said he had “never seen anything like this in his 40 years” in the assembly. He said a bill is a lengthy process before it enters the House and asked whether the officials involved had “bhang’ed” because “everyone just went ahead without verifying the claims.”
The opposition also took on the vice-chancellor of the Mohan Lal Sukhadia University in Udaipur and Amrika Singh, the senior-most in the four-member committee, which had allegedly verified claims, especially on infrastructure, before it was listed in the bill. Amarika Singh could not be reached for comment.
The Bill states that the university is run by the Gurukul Shikshan Sansthan, Sikar, which was registered on July 18, 2017 under the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959 – and “for the past several years in the field of running education and educational institutions”. I’m engaged.”
Rathod cited the Rajasthan Private Universities Act, which mandates that the project report submitted to the government should contain the audited accounts of the last five years as well as information about the financial resources of the sponsoring body. He said that since it has not been five years since the registration in this case, how can the audited accounts be credited? While withdrawing the bill, Education Minister Rajendra Yadav did not say anything about the false information given to him.