Four students who were admitted to the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) centre at Periyar University lodged a complaint on Sunday seeking action against the varsity’s Vice-Chancellor (V-C), R. Jagannathan, Registrar (full additional charge) K. Thangavel, and others for misappropriating funds to the tune of ₹2.66 crore meant for the scheme.
The DDU-GKY scheme aims at improving the skills of rural youth and providing jobs. Depending on the project duration, the Centre provides funds ranging from ₹25,000 to ₹1 lakh per person.
The students — A. Prem, C. Jebaraj, S. Padmanath, and J. Syed — had lodged the complaint at the City Police Commissioner office. Addressing reporters later, they said that 200 students were admittedto the varsity’s DDU-GKY centre in October 2022 for two six-month courses — User Experience Design andArtificial Intelligence (AI) Data Science.
All students were from the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and minority communities. The person in charge of the centre was Mr. Thangavel. “They admitted students by promising free education and jobs, and kept all our original educational certificates. Bank accounts were started in our names, but the staff at the centre decided to keep our pass books and ATM cards with them,” they said.
In the first two months, classes were conducted on the campus, after which the lessons were taken online, the students added.
The students alleged that their requests to get back their educational certificates and ATM cards were denied by the university administration. The staff at the centre also allegedly took the financial assistance provided by the Centre, under the scheme, for themselves using the students’ ATM cards, they added.
“After completion of the courses, the centre provided job orders. However, when we went to the places mentioned in the appointment orders, we found that they were fake. We tried to meet the V-C in this regard but could not...”
In their complaint, they urged the police to take action against the V-C, the Registrar, and the centre’s staff for misappropriating funds and providing fake appointment orders. They sought the help of the police in retrieving their educational certificates from the centre.
The other students who were admitted to the programme are residing in various districts, would soon lodge their complaints, the students said.
The police said they would take action after investigating the allegations.
