As if the Income-Tax raids last December were not enough, LN Welingkar Institute of Management and Development, Matunga is mired in yet another controversy. A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court urging for a probe into the appointment of Dr Uday Salunkhe as the director of the b-school. The complaint states that Dr. Salunkhe was appointed as director without the University’s approval and without following any of the prescribed procedures for such an appointment. The complainant in this case, one Baburao Jambulkar, an RTI activist from Talegaon has also filed complaints with the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and the Mumbai University on the same issue.

While AICTE has set up a committee to look into the irregularity, the University has also investigated the issue.

The intriguing part of this case however is that the complaint was originally filed in 2009, a full nine years after Salunkhe was appointed director of Welingkar.

Complainant

Mr Jambulkar told Pagalguy that Salunkhe was appointed director of Welingkar without keeping the Mumbai University in the loop. “An appointment to a director’s post in a b-school has to be certified by the University and has to follow certain norms and procedures. But in Salunkhe’s case, the appointment was done arbitrarily. For instance, one of the rules that Welingkar should have followed was to issue an advertisement about the vacancy which was not done. This shows that there were other motives involved while making this appointment.”

When asked why the complaint was filed in 2009 when Salunkhe was appointed in 2000, Jambulkar said that the matter was brought to his notice only in 2009 which was when he decided to take action. “I have nothing personal against Salunkhe. The fact is that his appointment was done without adhering to the laid-down norms,” justified Jambulkar.

AICTE

Soon, after receiving the complaint in 2009, AICTE set up a committee to look into it. The committee comprised of the Director of NIT Warangal, the Finance Officer at JNTU Hyderabad and the Registrar of the University of Mumbai and was co-ordinated by Dr P K Sahoo, director, Western Region Office, AICTE. The committee submitted its report to the Central Vigilance Office, AICTE last year. Pagalguy has in its possession this confidential document which states among other things, that Salunkhe’s appointment was not done as per University norms, which involved the process of advertising for the post. As Welingkar offers programmes related to the University, the recruitment of faculty and the director are to be conducted as per the rules of the University.”

When asked about this, Dr Sahoo said that the matter was in court and AICTE would state its stand in court. “Whomsoever keeps filing complaints, we have our answers ready,” he said.

Mumbai University

The Mumbai University ran a parallel investigation into the case and DH Kate, the deputy registrar was given its charge. Kate refused to comment on the issue citing it to be a sub-judice matter. Pagalguy, however, managed to trace a confidential letter written by Mr Kate to Dr PK Sahoo (dated June 2010), in which he has said that the need of the University to approve the appointment does not arise as the circular (no. Concol/475 dated June 26, 2008 which governs such appointments) applies to all appointments made after May 3, 2000 and Uday Salunkhe was appointed director in April 2000. “As far as the facts mentioned above are concerned, no irregularities are found in the appointment of the Director of Prin. LN Welingkar Institute of Management Studies,” says the letter.

The Mumbai University has also filed an affidavit in court with regards to Jambulkar’s complaint.

Funnily, however while this letter states that Salunkhe’s appointment need not have the University’s approval, since it was done prior to the said circular coming into force, in a Senate meeting held in 2008, the varsity informed its members that only two of the 36 directors of Mumbai’s management colleges stand ‘approved’ by the University-one Dr Uday Salunkhe, director of Welingkar and the other Dr DY Patil, head of Bharatiya Vidyapeeth’s Institute of Management.

So now not only do the findings of the AICTE differ from that of the Mumbai University, but also has the University two different things to say.

Welingkar says

Dr Uday Salunkhe was not willing to speak on the issue, also citing it as sub-judice. However, a spokesman from Welingkar said that the case and complaints are handiwork of certain people who have malicious interests. Why is someone out to disrepute Dr Salunkhe when the Mumbai Univeristy has already approved his appointment. People with malicious interest are specifically targeting those who have contributed to the growth of the trust.”

What this means to Welingkar

Precisely little as of now. The fact that Uday Salunkhe was appointed director in 2000 and the b-school has been functioning over the years means that the pending legal complaint is doing little to harm the reputation of the college. It is unlikely that aspiring students care about the ‘appointment’ of a b-school director, when deciding on a b-school. However, the fact remains that this is the second controversy to hit the b-school in recent times and only time will tell whether issues such as these REALLY make a difference to the running of a b-school or not.