District Correspondent, Sylhet: The court has issued arrest warrants against the former Vice-Chancellor, acting Registrar, and 58 others in connection with irregular appointments and corruption at Sylhet Medical University.
On Thursday, Judge Rokonuzzaman of the Senior Special Judge’s Court of Sylhet Metropolitan issued the order.
The matter was confirmed by Kripasindhu Das, an official of the relevant court.
According to the charge sheet submitted in court based on a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), appointments were made at the university in violation of rules, including recruiting individuals without qualifications and required age limits, creating and filling posts without proper approval, and renewing ad-hoc appointments multiple times for the same position.
The case records reveal that an investigation by the University Grants Commission (UGC) found evidence of abuse of power and corruption against the then Vice-Chancellor Morshed Ahmed Chowdhury and acting Registrar Md. Noimul Haque Chowdhury of this university, which was established in 2018. Following the investigation, the ACC filed the case against these two and 58 others on April 1, 2024, from its Integrated District Office in Sylhet.
The list of accused includes Fahima Khanam Chowdhury, Anjan Debnath, Maidul Islam Chowdhury, Md. Golam Sarwar, Md. Bilal Ahmed Chowdhury, Shamsher Russel, Gazi Md. Faraz, Abdul Munim, Rinku Das, Atik Shahriar Dhrubo, Khaleda Chowdhury, Ashraful Islam, Jannatul Ferdousi, Chowdhury Romman Ahmed, Saju Ibn Hannan Khan, Belal Uddin, Lokman Ahmed, Chowdhury Zulfikar Khaled, Md. Mosharraf Hossain, Halima Begum, Suranjit Chandra Talukdar, and many others.
The ACC’s investigation revealed that from 2019 to 2022, the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar made appointments without publishing recruitment advertisements, ignoring syndicate and UGC approvals. These appointments were entirely temporary, and instead of regularizing the positions after their tenure ended, the appointments were repeatedly renewed.
The charge sheet states that under subsection 12(10) of the University Act, the Vice-Chancellor can make ad-hoc appointments for six months and extend them for another six months if necessary. However, allegations exist that the same individuals’ appointments were repeatedly renewed in violation of the law, aided by the acting Registrar.
Additionally, without UGC approval, extra posts were created, and salaries and allowances were paid from the health ministry’s development budget. Although the university currently employs 239 individuals, the UGC has approved only 112 posts, of which 98 have been filled. The remaining 141 individuals were hired without approval from either the UGC or the health ministry, and their salaries are being paid from the health ministry’s funding.
An analysis of appointments made between 2019 and 2023 reveals that 46 individuals did not meet the age requirements. Eighteen were appointed despite lacking relevant professional experience. Moreover, four individuals who passed with third-class degrees and two without required qualifications were also hired. Some of these individuals were not only recruited illegally but also given unauthorized promotions.
