Graft case: Former IGNOU chief denies wrongdoing

Thiruvananthapuram, July 28 (IANS) V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, former vice chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University who is facing a CBI probe for alleged graft, Saturday denied wrongdoing in the university's tie-up with other institutions.

In a statement issued here, he clarified that all guidelines and procedures were followed while granting permission to Sikkim Manipal University and Punjab Technical University to offer IGNOU's distance education courses.

Pillai's houses in Kerala's capital city and at Kottayam were raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly favouring the two institutions.

He said that the Distance Education Council (DEC), the statutory authority to recognise IGNOU distance education programmes, allocated the courses to the two institutions three years ago as per the norms.

Both of them were recognised institutions and neither was a private university, he said.

The DEC followed all the guidelines in granting courses to the two universities. The decision to recognise the courses was taken at a council meeting after due consideration of the educational standards at the universities, he said.

Pillai is currently the executive vice-president of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and is based here.