Azam Khan, the senior leader of Samajwadi Party, seems to be landing in a new controversy on a daily basis. Just recently he had invited the wrath of the public after he had virtually termed the Indian army personnel as rapists. This had invited a complaint from the wife of a serving army officer, who termed the whole statement as derogatory.
Now even as the ink on the last complaint is barely dry, Azam Khan might be in for another after it was reported that government funds worth Rs 3000 crores were spent on his private university.
According to the report, an inquiry carried out by the State Minority Department has found that the Rs 3000 crores were spent on Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh of which Azam Khan is the Chancellor.
The MLA from Rampur and MOS of the Minority Welfare department, Baldev Singh Aulakh has now demanded a CBI probe into what he calls, “usage of public money for private welfare”.
Aulakh has claimed that government agencies have actually constructed parts of the Private University. He claims the PWD department had invested Rs 20 crores in the construction of the University buildings, which was then handed over to the Jauhar Trust at a token price of just Rs 100 per year.
Aulakh also claims that the PWD used a whopping Rs 236 crores to build a luxurious Guest House inside the campus and Rs 1310 crores to build a road outside the campus. He also pointed out that crores were spent by the power department in constructing a sub-station, by Jal Nigam in constructing a water tank, and by the culture department for building a pandal for the University.
Aulakh has also made clear his intention to recommend to Yogi Adityanath that the Jauhar University be changed into a government institution.
Not only this, there have also been allegations of the University having been built on illegally acquired land. In 2013, there were reports of Azam Khan grabbing 450 bighas worth of Waqf land for the part construction of the University.
Reports also claimed that most of the University land initially belonged to the Waqf board and various government agencies, which was then forcibly acquired using political clout. The report mentioned an alleged instance were the Rs 30 crore research centre of the University, was actually built on land initially owned by a jail.