Protest Against Women Molestration In Baramulla

Protest Against Women Molestration In Baramulla

Protest Against Women Molestration In Baramulla

Madrassa funding row: Now, DSEK says funds ‘surrendered’

By MUDASIR AHMED

Published: Wed, 12 December 2012 10:23 PM

SRINAGAR: The Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK), which is under fire over alleged embezzlement of the funds it had received as New Delhi’s assistance for Valley madrassas, now says that a major chunk of those funds has been “surrendered.”
“The un-operated funds of 361.5176 lakhs rupees out of the total allotment of 553.45 lakhs was surrendered ‘as a routine’ at the end of the financial year 2011-12 and the remaining amount of 91.613 lakhs has been remitted by Chief Education officers to government treasuries,” DSEK says in an RTI application filed by Mudasir Naqashbandi and Firdous Ahmed Parray.

The lawyer duo had sought details about lapsed amount and utilisation of the funds by DSEK, the nodal agency for funds distribution, after DSEK reply to a previous RTI in April this year contradicted the total figure provided by the government on the floor of the House.
In the first RTI reply in March, the DSEK had said that it received “only 373.77 lakhs in central assistance for madrassas”. Following the April RTI, DSEK said that it received 553.45 lakhs out of which 100.3194 were disbursed by CEOs to various madrassas.
But, government in a written reply to MLA Langate Er Rashid’s query in the House disclosed that it received Rs seven crores in central assistance for the madrassas in the Valley, out of which only 100.1394 lakh were disbursed.
“The information they have given now on the quantum amount is still ambiguous despite the request for a clarified reply about the declaration of the lapsed amount,” Mudasir Naqashbandi told Kashmir Reader. “Although DSEK has maintained that it received 553.45 lakhs from government of India, the latest RTI raises more questions than it answers.”
In the RTI reply in March, Naqashbandi says, DSEK claims to have disbursed the amount after March 31. “However, in the new RTI application they have said that funds get automatically lapsed after March 31. But in the previous RTI, DSEK said that it disbursed funds to madrassas in Budgam in the month of April this year.  So did they disburse the amount in April in Budgam if the amount got lapsed in March?”
Also, Naqashbandi says, list of all the madrassas who have received the aid “is with us, and they are not 372, as shown in the new RTI by DSEK, but only a handful.”
“I believe the information they have provided is totally misleading and incomplete. We are mulling to take necessary course of action in order to get to the facts,” Naqashbandi added

MADRASSA FUNDING ROW: NOW, DSEK SAYS FUNDS ‘SURRENDERED’

BOOK RELEASE AT KASHMIR UNIVERSITY

Madrassa funding row: DSEK gets RTI over contradictory figures

Published: Tue, 23 October 2012 10:24 PM

The Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK), which is under fire ever since the row over alleged embezzlement of madrassa funds erupted earlier this year, is now facing another RTI application seeking whereabouts of lapsed amount from the central assistance it received for various NGOs and madrassas.
The RTI application (OSD/MW 10583), shot by two lawyers, Mudasir Naqashbandi and Firdous Parray, has sought declaration of lapsed amount and details of utilisation of the funds by DSEK, if the amount has not been returned to HRD ministry.
“I am surprised to see how they are handling the issue and why the Education Minister and DSEK Director Mohammed Shafi Rather are silent, because DSEK is giving different details every time,” Naqashbandi told Kashmir Reader.
Regarding the amount received by DSEK (which was revealed in first RTI filed by the two lawyers in March), Naqashbandi said, “DSEK disclosed that they received an amount of Rs 373.77 lakh which was an unsatisfactory and incomplete reply. I filed first appeal in April and they then revealed the amount received was Rs 553.45 lakhs out of which they have disbursed only Rs 100.3194 lakhs.”
The government, however, disclosed in a written reply to MLA Langate Er Rashid in the state Assembly recently that it received Rs seven crores in central assistance for NGOs and madrassas in the Valley, out of which only 100.1394 lakh were disbursed.
“Now we are also going to file another RTI asking the DSEK to put out a clarification because DSEK says it received Rs five crores, disbursed 100.3194 lakhs and 453.128 lakhs were lapsed.”
“Is DSEK telling the truth or the government, we want to know. They should clarify what has happened to the said amount of poor and orphan children of the Valley,” Naqashbandi said. “We have also written to Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal regarding this issue and if needed we will meet him personally if DSEK doesn’t clarify by that time.”