Former Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Neerja Gupta has returned more than ₹14 crore to the university and resigned as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the PMJVK project amid controversy over the handling of grant funds.
The development comes as a committee of retired judges continues to look into allegations surrounding the transfer of grants received by the university under various projects to the PI’s bank account.
Controversy over grant funds
Gujarat University had received grants under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) and the Mind Mapping Project. A controversy arose after questions were raised over the transfer of grant money to Gupta’s personal bank account while she was serving as the PI.
Even after her tenure as vice-chancellor ended, Gupta continued to work as PI on some of the projects.
According to in-charge Vice-Chancellor Jagdish Joshi, ₹40 crore was approved for the PMJVK project, of which the university received ₹16.53 crore as the first instalment.
Joshi said the amount was deposited into the account of the project’s PI. On August 11, the PI resigned from the project by sending an email to the Registrar and subsequently returned ₹14.59 crore, after deducting the amount spent, to the university through a demand draft in favour of the Registrar.
New PMJVK account opened
Joshi said the university has opened a separate PMJVK account as per its rules. The account is operated jointly through the signatures of the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and Chief Accounts Officer.
According to him, around ₹14.5 crore was deposited into the new account on September 10, 2026.
Joshi said approximately ₹2 crore had already been spent from the grant. He has instructed the officials working on the project and the project’s chartered accountant to prepare audited statements of the expenditure and submit them to the university.
He said the expenditure up to August 11 would also be audited. Further action will be taken according to university rules after the audited statements are received.
Gupta still associated with two other projects
Joshi said that when he took charge, university officials informed him that Gupta was serving as PI on three projects — PMJVK, Bahuratna Vasundhara and Mind Mapping.
So far, the university has received Gupta’s resignation only from the PMJVK project. Joshi said no resignation had been received from the other two projects, meaning she technically continues as PI for those projects.
He added that he had no information about Gupta resigning from any other position.