The University Grants Commission (UGC) has found several irregularities in the proposed Raushan Ershad International University in Mymensingh. These include errors in the deed and the authorities’ failure to show the main design of the building when UGC officials visited the site.
The UGC team found that the deed was registered under Section 9 of the Trusts Act 1882 to set up and run the proposed university. But the deed mentions no specific address for the proposed university. Rather, it mentions that the ‘operation area (is) all over Bangladesh’.
The deed also mentioned that different educational institutes, including schools, colleges, medical colleges, and orphanages, would be set up beside the proposed university. Even the Board of Trustees (BOT) has been classified into three divisions. So, the registered deed is not adequate to set up and run a private university.
Regarding the land for the university, the UGC team found that the permanent campus of the proposed university was apparently a vacant plot at Barera Mauza. The land belongs to members of the BOT. The university authority mentioned that the university would be housed in two buildings in an area of 25,000 sq ft.
While visiting a three-storied building rented for the university, the team found that the ground floor was being used as a community centre and it is full of furniture. The second floor of the building is used for residential purposes. This, too, has beds and other furniture.
The authority of the proposed university could not show  the approved main design of the building. So, the team did not give any opinion about the size of the floor.
The university authorities also mentioned that they have rented another four-storied building at Kotwali thana under Maddya Barera Mouza. The building is under construction and only its floor has been concretised. The authorities could not show the approved main design of this building either.
Neither could the UGC team find any letter of permission from the authorities for using the two buildings for the university. Instead, it found that the address of the proposed university was 42/D, Christerpur, Mymensingh, as mentioned in the letter of the education ministry.
But, while visiting the stated address, the team found the building to be a residential one. It belongs to a member of the BOT. The member claimed that the building was being used for the administrative work of the proposed university.
Regarding the deposit fund, the UGC team found that the university authorities had made fixed deposits of Tk. 1.5 crore for three months in two accounts (17041060029338, 17041040029339) in the Gareb-E-Newaz Branch of Prime Bank Ltd in the name of the university. The accounts are run with the joint signature of two BOT members, Jannate Khoda and Dr Muhammad Abul Hossain. But the fund has to be renewed for a year.
The UGC team also found other anomalies. Dr Muhammad Abul Hossain, general secretary of the BOT, had given an undertaking on a stamp, saying the university would not engage in any work that is considered dangerous for the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh and national interest as well as students’ interest, and that it would not patronise terrorism or militancy at any cost. But the provision says that only the founder of the university could provide such an undertaking.
Raushan Ershad, also the opposition leader of the parliament, is the founder of the university.
The UGC team has told the government that it can take a proper decision about the proposed university only according to the observations of the team. UGC member Prof. Md Akhter Hossain was the convener of the visiting team, while UGC deputy director Jesmin Pervin was the member secretary of the team.
“We have sent the report to the government after visiting the proposed university in Mymensingh. Now the ministry will take steps in this regard,” Jesmin Pervin told The Independent yesterday.
One of the BOT members even faces allegations of certificate trading. Businessman Dr Mohammad Abul Hossain, who is the general secretary of the proposed university, was involved in certificate trading in Darul Ihsan University, which has now been shut down.
When Darul Ihsan University had been divided into four campuses, Abul Hossain had claimed the ownership of the Uttara Campus and allegedly been engaged in certificate trading. Earlier, he had also tried to open another university in Gazipur. But the government had rejected the proposal, apprehending irregularities.
Sources in the education ministry and UGC said it becomes difficult to give the approval for a private university when so many irregularities are found during the initial stages.