The Vigilance Committee of the Mizo National Front (MNF), the main opposition party in Mizoram, has lodged a complaint with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), demanding fresh inquiries into the use of funds by Mizoram Youth Commission (MCY).
The MNF has allegedly found irregularities in the utilization of funds by the Mizoram Youth Commission (MCY), Mizoram Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (MBOCWWB).
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The MNF has alleged that both the MCY and MBOCWWB have conspired to write off their funds by sending about 32 students from Mizoram to the Kolkata based fake institution Nalanda Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS).
The MNF has asked the bureau to find out the whereabouts of money amounting to Rs 42 Lakhs, which Chief Minister Pu Lalthanhawla has claimed that the Institute has returned to the Government.
According to media reports, the MNF said that the Chief Minister had claimed that the Institute has returned the money to the Mizoram Government on February 23.
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The reports, however, seem to contradict the Labour Employment, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (LESD&E) Minister, who while addressing the Assembly in November, claimed that the NIAS has yet to return the money to the State Government.
The MNF said in a statement to the media, “The refunded money is supposed to be deposited into the account of MBOCWWB or the state treasury, but neither of those things has happened. Therefore we demand an immediate probe by the corruption bureau into whether the money has been refunded by the NIAS or has been misappropriated.”
The MNF claimed that as per the board rules, the MBOCWWB fund can only be utilized by its members. The board has already violated the rule by sending 32 students from the State to the alleged fake institute in Kolkata.
At least 32 students from the State were sent to the institution in Kolkata in 2014 for a bachelor’s degree in hotel management.
However, very soon a majority of the students returned before the completion of their courses complaining that the institute did not turn out to be what it was displayed in its website and that it was declared to be fake by the West Bengal Government.