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Habibullah  Bahar College

Graft charges brought against principal

Published : Sunday, 12 July, 2020 at 12:00 AM  Count : 565

Habibullah Bahar College at Shantinagar in Dhaka earns around Tk 22 crore yearly from tuition fees from students and other incomes. Of the amount, the college has to spend about Tk 12 crore per year to defray salaries of the teachers and staff and meet other expenditures.
In this calculation, the authority saves around Tk 10 crore every year. As a result, the college authority should have at least Tk 100 crore in the college fund as the institution was established in 1969, before the independence of the country.
But, the college authority failed to meet up the salaries and other allowances of its teachers and staff for the last three months since the beginning of the general holidays to contain Covid-19 transmission from March 26 this year, according to the compliant of teachers. In this situation, the teachers of the college have decided to start non-stop agitation from next Saturday demanding arrears, including festival bonus.
In a complaint, which was submitted to the governing body of the college, they claimed that Principal Dr Abdul Jabbar Miah and former teacher representative Sirajul Islam have embezzled huge amount of money from the college fund in connivance with the Administration Officer, Md Mostafa Bhuiyan.  
Allegations were also raised against expelled Juba League leader Khaled Bhuiyan (Casino Khaled), who was an influential member of the governing body. Using Khaled's muscles power, they have embezzled the college funds.
Sources said that incumbent president of the governing body Rashed Khan Menon, also the local lawmaker, found irregularities of around Tk 1.75 crore in the college fund while taking charge in October of last year. But, the issue got stuck there.
When contacted over phone on Thursday, Rashed Khan Menon, MP, received the call, but failed to make any comments for his sickness. Following the complaints of the teachers and staff, the college governing body has formed a six-member probe body to investigate the allegations and submit a report. On the report, the authority would take necessary actions against those found guilty.
When contacted over phone on Thursday, Principal Dr Abdul Jabbar Miah told the Daily Observer that the probe body is investigating the issue. "The probe will determine if there was any embezzlement or not."
"When I took charge on January 16 in 2019, around Tk 1.48 crore was in the college fund," he said and added that he has paid all the arrears of the teachers and staff.
"At the same time, tuition fees to the tune of several crore taka still remain unrealized. As a result, the college has been facing fund crisis," he claimed.
He also added that the problem was created due to the unpredicted lockdown in the educational institutions due to Covid-19 pandemic. "We are trying to manage funds for meeting up the dues of the teachers and staff."
The allegation levelled by the teachers against the Administrative Officer of the college is that Mostafa Bhuiyan has built a multi-storied building at Demra and uses a luxury car by embezzling the college fund. Regarding the allegations Mostafa claimed, "My father-in-law has given the house at Demra as a gift to my wife. The car is also a gift from my rich in-laws."
Preferring anonymity, a college teacher told this correspondent, "Every year college authority collects Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200 from every HSC examinee in the name of practical examination. It is totally illegal as the Dhaka Education Board provides all costs of practical."
In a further development, the agitating teachers sat with the principal to discuss the issue on Saturday but the meeting yielded no result.  









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