Will more engineering colleges come under the IT scanner?

Hyderabad: Who complained against the institutions run by Minister Malla Reddy and his family members which resulted in income tax raids?

It is learnt that those who complained against the institutions,

were the former employees of the group of institutions including some of those faculty who were sacked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On condition of anonymity an IT official told The Hans India, the raids are not based on any new revelations but based on complaints more than a year old. "it is not a single complaint but there are a series of them against different institutions in and around the city.

The complainants alleged about the collection of donations at the time of admissions and how the institutions have been paying salaries to the faculty as per the norms only on the paper. The also alleged that only 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the salary was actually paid to them.

The complaints it is understood wanted seeking inspection of income tax returns of the institutions, salaries paid to the faculty and other financial transactions including the payment of PF, issue of Form-16 to the employees by the institutions and the like," the sources pointed out.

It is said that in one incident the central intelligence sleuths had spoken to one of the complainants seeking the details on the functioning, irregularities taking place in different engineering colleges not just those run by Mallareddy.

It is claimed that the complaints of the irregularities in educational institutions were also sent to the Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H), Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE), Telangana State Education Secretary, Commissioner of Technical Education, state Education Minister and to the office of the Chief Minister of Telangana.

One among the complainants on the financial irregularities and flouting norms includes the Telangana Schools' Technical Colleges' Employees Association from Telangana (TSTCEA).

When asked the TSTCEA state president Santhosh Kumar said the organisation had sent representation more than one and half years ago on the need for IT verification and issue of Form-16 relating to the payment of salaries to the faculty, and payment of PF and other issues as per the AICTE norms.

The organisation had lodged complaints with the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Union Ministry of Education, the Office of the President of India and the Prime Minister of India to intervene to stop the institutions from the exploitation of both the students and faculty.