Defaulting teachers owe DU Tk 4.38cr

Dhaka University will take a series of initiatives to get more than Tk 4.38 crore back from 60 former teachers who owe the amount to the university. The teachers had taken loans from the university to get higher education abroad but neither returned the money nor joined their jobs afterwards.

"We have already started the process of getting the money back. If we don't get their response soon, we would file financial suits," Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique told The Daily Star.

The loans, salaries and other allowances that the 60 teachers received before and during study leave added up to Tk 438,66,947, according to a DU statement.

All of the 60 either resigned or were sacked by the university.

The statement said the university authorities asked the teachers to pay the money back on several occasions but did not get any response. The authorities noted that the rate of interest would increase continuously until the teachers repaied the money.

DU also published advertisements in several national newspapers in this regard earlier.

Acting Registrar Rezaur Rahman said the syndicate took a set of decisions including sending warning letters and reminders to them. The teachers, since 1971, had not returned to their jobs after expiry of their four year study leave.

Letters have been issued to the departments and institutes concerned asking for the defaulters' whereabouts so that they can be contacted. The authorities may also contact Bangladesh's diplomatic missions abroad in this connection.

Rahman said a list of the teachers would be posted on the university website soon so that they could learn about their debts. According to the university rules, a teacher can go abroad for higher education with up to four years' study leave. During the leave period, they are entitled to salaries and other allowances. Sources said each of the defaulters had signed a bond before taking the loan that they would pay the money back if they decided to stay abroad. The amounts of their debts range from Tk 19,000 to Tk 38 lakh. Here are the names of the defaulters owing Tk 10 lakh or more.

Dr Aminur Rahman of Bangla Tk 38.12 lakh, Sheikh Mohammad Ali of electrical and electronics engineering Tk 30.44 lakh, Aminul Islam Mollik of applied chemistry and chemical engineering Tk 15.84 lakh, Hosne Ara Begum of health economics Tk 15.2, Arifur Rahman of accounting and information systems Tk 14.21 lakh, Khondokar Mohammad Istiak of economics Tk 13 lakh, Alamgir Rahaman of molecular biology Tk 12.48, Mostaim Billah of geography and environment Tk 12.46 lakh, Mohammad Nurul Huq of accounting and information systems Tk 11.38 lakh, Hanif Uddin of information science and library management Tk 10.95 lakh, Tanzim Afroz of law Tk 10.23 lakh, Mahmud Bin Sayed of Arabic Tk 10.22 lakh, Tania Sharmin of anthropology Tk 10.10 lakh, and Kazi Aminur Rahman of mathematics Tk 10 lakh.