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RTI APPLICATION, under RTI act - 2005 Through Registered Post

Date: 10/04/2014 FROM: Chirag S. Shastri

Student: Faculty Of Sustainable Environment and Climate Change, (FOSECC), CEPT University, Batch: 2011-13

20, Nandanvan Society, Opp. Shreyas Park Society, B/h ISRO, Satellite, Ahmedabad – 380015

Email: chiragshastri71@gmail.com, Mobile No: 91 9825473087 To,

The Public Information Officer(s) 1. Shri K.P.Chauhan, Deputy Director 2. Shri Shyam Verghesei, Deputy Director 3. Shri K. R. Parmar, Deputy Director 4. Shri R.S.Leuva, Assistant Director 5. Ms. M. M. Mehta, Deputy Director 6. Shri A.K.Vasava, Account Officer All addressed at: The Commissionerate of Technical Education, Education Department, Government of Gujarat

Subject: - Application under RTI Act seeking information on Role played by DTE & DTE Nominee on the Board of CEPT University during 2011 to till date Dear Sir/ Madam, I request you to provide me the following information related to CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, with documentary evidences at my cost. (DD of initial amount of Rs. 20/- is attached).

1. Provide us the information on why and under which law or act, your good office is supposed to fund the CEPT University and in general to fund Educational Institutions like CEPT University in the state of Gujarat.

2. Provide us the information on why and under which law or act, your good office is supposed to control, check and inspect the academic and administrative and other affairs of CEPT University and in general to perform the same task for other Educational Institutions like CEPT University in the state of Gujarat.

3. Provide us the information on why and under which act or law your good office

is bound to appoint a nominee from your office on the board of CEPT governing body and in general on the board of any other educational institutions in the state of Gujarat.

4. Provide us the details on the role to be played by such nominee appointed by

your good office on the board of CEPT a. Power he/she can exercise b. Duties such officer / nominee has to discharge for the betterment of

education.

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c. Action he/she has to take or can take if he/she come across any vagary, discrepancy, irregularity or illegality on academic and administrative part in the institution.

5. Provide us the details regarding the amount of fund which has been given to CEPT University since its birth as University. (i.e. provide the year wise details of the fund CEPT university has received since 2005, i.e for 2005/06 to 2013/14)

6. Please furnish the name, designation, full address, telephone number & Email-id

of the person(s)/officer(s) nominated by DTE as a member on the Board of CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, during last Five academic years, i.e. 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

7. In addition, the following information may also be provided. (i) Dates of all the meetings which have been attended by such person /

officers (now onwards expressed as DTE nominee) during last 3 academic years, i.e. 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14.

(ii) If any of such meetings held in academic years, i.e. 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14 is/are not attended by DTE nominee, reason(s) for not attending the meeting(s).

(iii) Minutes of all the meetings of CEPT executive council, CEPT Board of Management and CEPT Governing body held severally or jointly during the academic years 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

(iv) Provide all the minutes of such meetings as a photocopy of the original minutes drawn, which are duly signed by all the participants of those meetings.

Though our queries will be solved if we get the minutes of all these meetings, we hereby specifically mention the following queries separately for which false or irrelevant or illusive information has been supplied by CEPT PIO. We are sure that through the route of DTE, it would be easy for us to avail the information we sought for. So provide us the following information as well.

8. Detailed Minutes of the Meetings of CEPT board of Management wherein the ideas of appointment of new President and Director was discussed, duly signed by all the participants of such meetings including DTE nominee.

9. Copies of minutes of all the meetings in which the issue pertaining to the progression of process of appointment of new President were discussed, duly signed by all the participants of such meetings including DTE nominee.

10. Copies of minutes of the meeting(s) in which the members of the Board of

Management of CEPT including the DTE nominee discussed on all the applications received for the post of President of CEPT. Also;

i. Provide us the copies of CV/Resume/Bio data/Profile along with the applications of all such candidates, received by CEPT for the post of the President.

ii. Provide the Minutes of the meeting in which it was discussed and decided to narrow down to 3 options for the post of President and also supply the Minutes of Meetings in which the criteria were set to decide how and on

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what bases and with what requisite qualifications the names of 3 candidates should be shortlisted.

iii. Also provide us with the information how, finally following 3 names were shortlisted and how their qualifications conform to the criteria set for such process of short-listing which led CEPT management and its concerned body to shortlist following 3 names.

Dr. K. T. Ravindran Dr. Vikramaditya Prakash Dr. Bimal Patel

11. A five member committee was formed to explore the said 3 options thoroughly. The committee members were;

Mr. Sanjay Lalbhai (Chairman, CEPT) Mr. B. V. Doshi (Founder Member, CEPT) Mr. Achal Bakeri (Renowned Industrialist and land developer) Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai (Trustee- CEPT, Director- CEE) Mr. Prem Pangotra (Professor, IIMA)

They had to explore above mentioned 3 options.

i. Provide us with the detailed CV/Resume/Bio data/Profiles with the copies of

certificates, credentials etc. of all the three candidates. ii. Provide us the Minutes of the meetings in which the said five members

placed their ideas about all the 3 candidates. Provide us the Minutes of the meetings which include the submissions, opinions of all five committee members SEPARATELY on each of the three candidates and finally they decided that Mr. Bimal Patel is the right candidate.

(In all there would be 15 (5 x 3 = 15) different opinions as 5 members have chosen candidate from out of 3 members.)

iii. Reply by CEPT PIO to our RTI application suggest that no such meetings were held wherein the these 5 (Five) committee members had placed their opinions on each and every candidates, and so, If any such meetings were not held, provide us the reasons why said five committee members did not opine on any of the candidates and the actions taken by DTE nominee for the same following to that.

iv. Provide us the details regarding the role played by the DTE nominee in this process of getting opinion from all five committee members regarding the selection of right candidate for President from the said 3 options.

v. Provide us the details regarding role played by DTE nominee in the Meetings in which CEPT chairman Mr. Sanjay Lalbhai announced that the five members’ committee has selected Mr. Bimal Patel as new President for CEPT. There are two such meetings which are as under.

• CEPT PIO supplied a single page single line Minute of the meeting dated 21/06/2012, wherein Mr. Sanjay Lalbhai places the above outcome of the committee.

• In another joint meeting of Governing Body and Board of Management dated 30/06/2012, he (Mr Sanjay Lalbhai) again placed the said outcome of the committee.

vi. The DTE nominees in CEPT board might/should have witnessed and inspected the whole course of process. So, provide us the details regarding the visits and/or inspection held by the DTE nominee in the whole process of

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selecting the new President of CEPT, which mention their role time to time and meeting to meeting, in terms of their reciprocation, objection, suggestions, instruction they might have placed before the CEPT authority and Provide us the copies of any such communication they had have with CEPT authorities in this regard.

Mr. Bimal Patel is full time working Architect by profession and runs his own architectural consultancy firm and thus – Holds the ‘Office of Profit’.

And so he spends only pre lunch hours in the campus except meetings etc. So far (till the reply of our last RTI) he has received huge amount of Rs 36,65,000/- (Rs Thirty Six Lakh Sixty Five Thousands Only) in 17 months (July 2012 to Nov 2013, currently he draws 2,33,000/- per month, source – RTI reply)

In view of this facts please provide us the following information.

12. Provide us the information regarding any law or act pertaining to the Educational Institutes or University like CEPT, which allows any person to become head of the Institute, who, in parallel holds the Office of Profit.

13. Also provide us the information regarding such laws or act which do not allow such person who holds the Office of Profit to become the head of the Educational Institutes. And also provide the details regarding the actions your good offices can take against such illegal appointment.

14. Copy of the detailed Appointment Letter issued to Mr. Bimal Patel showing

working hours, probation period, Gross Salary / Compensation / Remuneration package along with other perquisites and facilities provided to Mr. Bimal Patel by CEPT University.

We have never seen any Appointment letter which runs through only one page (effectively half page) and has only 3 clauses and none of them impose any term or condition, BUT which entitles any persons for drawing a huge amount of Rs. 2,33,000/- per month. (Source: Mr. Bimal Patel’s appointment letter we received as RTI reply. It is clearly understood that no such appointment letter was given to him right at the time of the appointment, but when we sent RTI asking for such letter and raised the issue of his limited hours’ daily presence in campus, CEPT drafted such letter in hassle wherein they tried to incorporate the reply to the only query i.e. on daily working hour. Annexure - A)

15. Reply to our RTI suggests that the post of President in CEPT University is remunerative. And as it is remunerative, the rules (norms) under which such salary / remuneration is being paid to him may be intimated.

16. The duration of daily working hours observed by Mr. Bimal Patel while discharging day to day duties & responsibilities as Acting Director in CEPT University, may be intimated.

17. The duration of daily working hours observed by Mr. Bimal Patel while

discharging day to day duties & responsibilities as President in CEPT University, may be intimated.

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18. Provide the details regarding the actions taken by DTE nominee to instruct

Mr. Bimal Patel in this regard, i.e. any written advice, instruction, memo, letter of objection given to Mr. Bimal Patel or any other competent authority of CEPT (like Chairman, Registrar) by DTE nominee and any communication, reciprocation thereof of DTE nominee with them, i.e. clarification and justification received by DTE nominee from Mr. Bimal Patel or such authorities for not spending full time in the campus and for the institute, despite drawing huge amount every month, which is equivalent to the fees of one student for the masters’ course.

19. Provide us with Name of the all such Institutes across the country and the Name

of their respective Directors which are under DTE obligation, financially or administratively, wherein the Presidents or Directors or any other competent higher functionary or heads draw salary for full time working hours and spending only pre lunch hours in campus and who in parallel hold the Office of Profit as well.

20. As per the provisions of CEPT University act (clause 10(1)), the Director of the

University is supposed to be appointed from among the deans by rotation. Since Mr. Bimal Patel has never held the post of Dean in CEPT University, the rules regulations under which he has been appointed as an Acting Director may be intimated.

21. Provide us the with reasons why no one has been selected from the existing

deans and minute of any such meeting of CEPT Governing Body or Board of Management wherein the decision of not following the CEPT act 2010 and UGC act, was taken.

Other such illegal decision taken by CEPT management is closure and merger of the Courses/Faculties, which were running successfully. RTI reply by CEPT PIO fails to explain the reasons behind closure of the courses/faculties.

22. Provide us with the details regarding the role played by the DTE nominee as a member of the CEPT Board of Management or as a member of any other competent body of CEPT; in the whole process of closing down few successfully running courses and faculties in CEPT. It should include; i. Detailed Minutes of the Meetings of CEPT board of Management wherein

the ideas of closure of the said courses/Faculties were discussed, duly signed by all the participants of such meetings including DTE nominee.

ii. Copies of minutes of all the meetings in which the issue pertaining to the progression of process of closure of the said courses/Faculties were discussed, duly signed by all the participants of such meetings including DTE nominee.

iii. Provide us in detail the submissions and opinions by each and every member of CEPT Executive Council or any other competent authority or body SEPARATELY for each of the courses/faculties through which they advocated the closure of the said courses and justified the closure stating all the circumstances and compelling reasons for the closure.

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(In all there would be around more than 44 to 50 (4 x 11 = 44) different opinions as 11 members of Executive Council had decided to close down 4-5 different courses.) Some of the facts for your information… a. None of the CEPT Executive Council members is expert in the

subjects or the courses that are closed down and so they can’t/should not opine on the importance of those courses/faculties.

b. As a reply to our second RTI, we have received a 4 page long e-mail which our Dean Dr. Shravankumar Acharya had sent to Mr. Bimal Patel and to all the members of CEPT Executive Council through which he explained the importance of the issues of CC and the course itself in recent era. None of the members of CEPT Executive Council replied the same. Nor they discussed the same in any meeting before deciding on the closure of the courses.

iv. Keeping these facts in mind provide the details regarding the views taken by and role played by DTE nominee along with other participants of the meetings,

a. In the discussion on the said Letter/Email by Dr. Shrvankumar Acharya and

b. Including the ideas that overruled the contents of the said letter and

c. The reasons and factors that finally led to the closure of CC course (FOSECC) were decided.

v. It should also include the details regarding the actions taken by DTE nominee to instruct Mr. Bimal Patel and the members of Executive Council in this regard, i.e. any written advice, instruction, memo given to Mr. Bimal Patel and to the members of Executive Council by DTE nominee and any communication, reciprocation thereof of DTE nominee with Mr. Bimal Patel and with the members of Executive Council, i.e. clarification and justification received by DTE nominee from Mr. Bimal Patel and the members of Executive Council advocating and justifying the closure of the courses/faculties.

Intense addition and alteration in building structure was held after the appointment of Mr. Bimal Patel and the academic and teaching staff members and students were compelled to shift somewhere else, especially during the final months of the semester when they were overloaded with exams and submissions. On top of that a huge amount around Rs. 5.00 cr was wasted behind this act of Exhibition of Power. Reply to our RTI application failed to provide us the details regarding any of the queries related to such construction and interior work.

23. Provide us with the details regarding the role played by the DTE nominee as a

member of the CEPT Board of Management or any other competent body of CEPT; in the whole process of executing Building Structure addition and alteration work in CEPT.

It should include;

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24. Provide us the certified copies of letters, representations, emails, complaints made by any from CEPT community – be it student(s), teacher(s), faculty member(s), senior professor(s), dean(s), head(s) of the courses/faculties and/or admin staff – to CEPT Management regarding the inconvenience they were facing in existing buildings’ infrastructure and due to which they had raised demand for addition and alteration work to avail more and better infrastructural facilities. (The fact is no such demand was raised by anyone.)

25. Provide us with the details regarding the role played by DTE nominee in any such meetings of CEPT board or governing body in which the following activities regarding the issue of unnecessarily conducting Addition alteration work in building infrastructure were discussed. Provide us the following; a. Provide us the Copies of the Agendas circulated by CEPT management

(through registrar or the convener of the meetings), which were received time to time and meeting by meeting, by DTE nominee (prior to each and every meeting) regarding all the meetings (starting from the decision taken to decide to commence such work – to – the decision of making final most payment to the contractor after closely checking the bills raised by him), held for such construction and renovation work, which was to cost around Rs. 5.00 crores.

b. Minutes of meetings in which the – agenda of – The inconvenience the people at CEPT were facing due to which the demand was raised by the people through any kind of communications and Necessity of such intense construction work – was discussed, wherein it was resolved to conduct such work and outline of the next course of actions and the dates for the next follow up meetings were decided.

c. Minutes of all the meetings related to the process of selection of campus engineer, campus architect; attended and duly signed by DTE nominee along with all the other participants of such meetings.

d. Minutes of all the meetings related to the whole process of selecting contractor by following due process of tendering; attended and duly signed by DTE nominee along with all the other participants of such meetings.

e. Minutes of the meetings in which the Rates offered by the selected contractor were compared with other contractors and with the Current Market Rates and wherein the name of the contractor/agency was finalized – attended and duly signed by DTE nominee along with all the other participants of such meetings.

f. Minutes of all the meeting in which the terms and conditions for execution of work and payment to be made thereof were decided - attended and duly signed by DTE nominee along with all the other participants of such meetings.

g. Copy of the Work Completion Reports and Satisfactory Work Completion certificates issued by concerned deans or heads of the faculties where the work was executed and presented in the meetings of the concerned body on the base of which the payments were made to the contractor agency time to time and role played by DTE nominee in such meetings.

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26. Provide us the details regarding the actions taken by DTE nominee to instruct Mr. Bimal Patel and the members of any other competent and responsible body of CEPT, in this regard, i.e. any written advice, instruction, memo, written objection given to Mr. Bimal Patel and to the members of the concerned body by DTE nominee and any communication, reciprocation thereof of DTE nominee with Mr. Bimal Patel and with the members of such body, i.e. clarification and justification received by DTE nominee from Mr. Bimal Patel and such responsible body advocating and justifying the necessity of the Intense addition alteration work on war bases during peak months of Semester (i.e. Jury presentations, examinations and submissions).

I further request you to let me know if anything is missing in following the due process of filing the RTI application under RTI act. Awaiting your sooner and positive reply… Thanking you, Yours truly Chirag Shastri CC: - The Commissioner (Ex Officio), Directorate of Technical Education. Block No.2, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan Old Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar