A major controversy has emerged over recruitments made during the tenure of former Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Neerja Gupta, with allegations of serious procedural irregularities and financial loss to the university.
According to information available, around 10 temporary officers and employees were appointed directly without following the prescribed recruitment procedure or ensuring transparency. Several of them were allegedly offered salaries four to five times higher than the usual pay scales, resulting in a financial burden of more than ₹10 crore on the university.
After the matter came to the notice of current in-charge Vice-Chancellor Jagdish Joshi, an inquiry committee was constituted. Based on the committee’s preliminary findings, all 10 employees have reportedly been suspended with immediate effect.
Government nominees were absent for 14 months
The alleged irregularities took place during a crucial transition period at Gujarat University. Neerja Gupta took charge as Vice-Chancellor on July 1, 2023, when the university was moving from the old legal framework to the new Common University Act, which came into effect on October 9, 2023.
The new Act provided greater autonomy to the university. However, government-nominated members of the Syndicate could not be appointed for nearly 14 months.
According to the allegations, this period was used to push through several appointments and decisions. Syndicate and Board of Management meetings were held in the absence of government nominees, with university professors and department heads participating in the proceedings.Questions have also been raised over a Board of Management meeting held on December 9, 2024, in which then BJP MLA and BOM member Kaushik Jain was reportedly present. Despite the approval of appointments carrying salaries running into lakhs of rupees, no objection was allegedly raised at the meeting or subsequently brought to the government’s notice.
Officers appointed on salaries running into lakhs
Several appointments carrying high monthly salaries were reportedly approved at meetings held on different dates.According to the information available, Chandrashekhar Jha was appointed as Estate Engineer on April 3, 2024, at a monthly salary of ₹1.50 lakh. Pawan Pandit was appointed Director of the HPP Course on May 25, 2024, with a salary of ₹2.25 lakh per month, while Dinesh Sharma was appointed Chief Accounts Officer on June 14 at ₹1.50 lakh per month.Further appointments were reportedly made on December 9, 2024, including an IIS Director with a monthly salary of ₹1.50 lakh and a Legal Officer with a salary of ₹55,000. In some cases, salaries were allegedly fixed as high as ₹5 lakh per month.
Government nominees finally appointed in January 2025
The state government eventually appointed four members — Smitaben Joshi, Hiren Jadhav, Ashish Amin and Shwetal Sutaria — as government-nominated Syndicate members on January 13, 2025.By then, however, most of the temporary appointments under scrutiny had already been completed.The former Vice-Chancellor had reportedly offered explanations for several of the decisions, but the current authorities are examining whether the appointments were made in accordance with the applicable rules and procedures.Following the preliminary inquiry, the university administration has taken action against the 10 employees. The developments have once again raised questions over transparency, recruitment procedures and financial decision-making at Gujarat University during the 14-month period when government nominees were absent from the Syndicate.