Govt investigating outgoing RU VC after clashes over recruitment sleaze

The government has launched an investigation into alleged irregularities by Professor M Abdus Sobhan, the outgoing vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University.

The education ministry formed a four-strong committee on Thursday after clashes over mass recruitments by Prof Sobhan on his last day in office that the government said were illegal, reports bdnews24.com.

Police escorted him out of the campus in the afternoon to his home in the Rajshahi University Housing Society amid clashes between groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League, teachers, employees and job candidates.

Prof Muhammad Alamgir, a member of the University Grants Commission, is heading the investigation. The other members of the committee are Dr Md Abu Taher, member, UGC; Dr Md Zakir Hossain Akhand, joint secretary, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education; and Muhammad Jaminur Rahman, director, UGC.

They have been given seven working days to submit a report.

The ministry said in a statement that the UGC had found evidence of irregularities in its investigations into Prof Sobhan.

Later, on Dec 10 last year, the government ordered a halt on all recruitments in the university.

Just before leaving, he recruited 140 people amid the ban, thus the appointments are illegal, the statement said.   

In another order, the government tasked Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr Ananda Kumar Saha with conducting the routine job of the VC.

Prof Sobhan, who had faced adversities during the 2007-08 caretaker government, became VC in 2009 after the Awami League came to power. He had held the post until 2013 in the first stint. The government appointed him VC of the university again in 2017.

While leaving the campus with police detail, he told reporters that he would speak about the recruitment issue later.

“He has committed irregularities until the last day,” said Prof Md Sultan-Ul-Islam, a spokesman for a group of teachers who have been protesting against Prof Sobhan’s activities.

The current and former leaders and activists of BCL’s RU unit, jobseekers, employees and teachers gathered on the campus in the morning.

The clashes erupted when a group of BCL leaders and activists from the Rajshahi Metropolitan Unit entered the campus.