New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) The Indian Science Congress Association has rejected allegations of financial irregularities made against it by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), which has dissociated itself from the Indian Science Congress being held next year.
In a letter to the DST secretary, Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) general president Arvind Kumar Saxena also asserted that the 110-year-old association was not required to get clearance from the government on deciding the venue of the annual gathering of scientists.
He claimed the DST was adopting an “autonomy depleting attitude” towards ISCA by insisting on taking permission from it on the venue of the annual Indian Science Congress event.
Saxena’s letter came in response to a notice issued by the DST last month dissociating itself from the Indian Science Congress in January next year, alleging financial irregularities and shifting the venue of the annual event unilaterally from Lucknow University to Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar.
Saxena said ISCA was facing the heat on account of a case filed by it in the Calcutta High Court for depleting its autonomy by the DST.
Saxena termed the allegations of financial irregularities at ISCA, mentioned in the DST notice, as “absolutely false and baseless.” He said the audit team and the DST have audited the accounts of ISCA four times this year and found no financial irregularity.
Saxena urged the DST to withdraw the notice in the interest of science propagation and to maintain a healthy functional relationship between ISCA and DST. PTI SKU SMN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.