Staff Reporter :
Following the gross violation of the rules and regulations and flagrant corruption charges against the Trustee Board Members of the North South University, the government has restructured its Board of Trustees by dropping its former eight members.
Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) on Tuesday issued a letter in this regard with authorization of President Abdul Hamid, who is the Chancellor of all universities.
Apart from this, the president also cut the number of Trustee of the university to 12 from 16. The previous BoT members who were dropped are Azim Uddin Ahmed, chairman of Mutual Group of Companies; Benajir Ahmed, managing director and CEO of Raymond Group of Industries; Aziz Al Kaiser, vice-chairman of Partex Star Group; MA Kashem, chairman of Mutual Group of Industries; Rehana Rahman, managing director of Bengal Tradeways Ltd; Mohammed Shajahan, managing director of Shah Fatehullah Textile Mills Ltd and Jalal Ahmed Spinning Mills Ltd; and Nurul H Khan, former chairman of National Board of Revenue.
The letter said, “The University Grants Commission has found proofs that some of the NSU BoT members and its internal officials were found involved in anti-state activities, patronisation of militancy, corruption and arbitrariness, which is a flagrant violation of the Private University Act 2010 and country’s criminal law.”
“In addition, four of its previous BoT members are now behind the bars following a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission over their involvement in financial corruption in land purchase process. Moreover, a supplementary charge sheet has been submitted against another BoT member over forging government documents pertaining to the appointment of Treasurer to the university,” it added. “Against such a situation, it is not appropriate to include the accused persons in the Board. Under the current situation the academic and operational activities of the university are being hampered because the BoT cannot be run completely,” the letter added.
DSHE in the letter also mentioned that the provision 35 (7) of the Private University Act, 2010, clearly said if there is a standoff in a private university for any reason or if its normal academic activities are disrupted and there is risk of the students being damaged, the chancellor, upon recommendations from the UGC and the Education Ministry, can take any necessary order or directives in the interest of continuing the normal academic activities.
The new BoT has been formed with MA Kalam, managing director of TK Group of Industries; SM Kamaluddin, chairman and managing director of Concord Engineers and Constructions Ltd; Abul Kashem, managing director of Abul Khair Group; Yasmin Kamal, director of Minhaz Group of Industries; ASF Rahman, chairman of BEXIMCO Group of Industries; Junaid Kamal Ahmad, senior economist of World Bank, Washington DC, USA; Fawzia Naaz, chairman of United Phosphorus (Bangladesh) Ltd; and Tanveer Harun, vice-chairman of Incontrade Ltd, Javed Munir Ahmed, Faiza Jamil and Sheema Ahmed and Prof Atiqul Islam, vice chancellor of NSU.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption watchdog sued five NsU BoT members – Azim Uddin Ahmed, Mohammed Shajahan, Benajir Ahmed, MA Kashem and Rehana Rahman – as well as Managing Director of Ashalaya Housing Amin Md Hilaly over the embezzlement of about Tk 304 crore.
They were taken into custody and then they were sent to jail on May 22. Though Shajahan, Benajir, Kashem and Rehana had sought anticipatory bail from the High Court, but it was denied.
The letter said that decision of the chancellor in this regard shall be considered as final and it will be effective from the date of the issuance of the letter.
