OUAT VC, SN Pasupalak Resigns

Bhubaneswar: Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) Vice Chancellor Surendra Nath Pasupalak resigned from his post on Tuesday.

He sent his resignation to the Chancellor and Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal by post.

In February, Pasupalak was sent on leave over allegations of irregularities in the university. Another reason was corruption charges and manipulation of records for personal benefits and erroneous advertisement in recruitments for Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of OUAT.

Governor Ganeshi Lal had also ordered a vigilance probe into the corruption charges made against Pasupalak on December 9, 2018.

In a press conference on February 28, Pasupalak had said, “I will go on leave only when a new Vice Chancellor joins the university. I have not applied to take leave. But I received a letter to go on leave on February 26. This letter mentions an investigation. But I do not know what investigation is going on. I had not been informed about any investigation earlier. A vigilance investigation was asked for on the basis of a complaint made by a retired employee of the university. But he was involved in many corruption cases himself. I wonder how an investigation was ordered on the basis of a complaint made by a corrupt employee.”

However, Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University, Prof Soumendra Mohan Patnaik was given additional charge of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) on March 1 and Prof Surendra Nath Pasupalak went on leave.