AFTER 10 months of cajoling, requesting and finally demanding that the St Xavier’s Education Trust submit its financial records for auditing, the Education Department finally got a response—a bunch of vouchers that supposedly accounts for the estimated Rs 16 crore collected as fees from the students of St Xavier’s High School, Nerul, since 1999.
‘‘How can I audit their account with vouchers? Where are their cash books, ledgers and other account records?’’ said the State Education Department’s Senior Auditor B B Tattau.
The Trust has been in the news ever since a Newsline report dated May 23 (‘School fees end up as Skodas’) revealed how Thane Zilla Parishad Education Officer L P Mali had frozen the school’s bank account after it was found that its trustees had bought swanky cars for themselves and paid garage bills and personal phone bills using school money.
A few days prior to that report, on May 19, Newsline had also reported how St Xavier’s High School Principal Manisha Andhansare had filed a writ petition against the Nerul police for not lodging a First Information Report (FIR) against the Trust.
In her police complaint, Andhansare had alleged that the Trust was a bogus body that had illegally taken over the management of the school and was misusing school funds.
The petition was dismissed by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday—but only after Police Inspector Arunkumar Hande of the Nerul police station promised action against the Trust once the Education Department’s audit was completed.
Soon after that judgement, the vouchers were submitted for auditing.
But only the Trust’s cash books and ledgers will reveal how the school’s funds were utilised.
‘‘All records of the school’s accounts should be with the principal. Why was the trust directly controlling the money? And why are the trustees not willing to produce the records for auditing?’’ said Mali.
On average, the school collected Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore as fees every year since 1999—and spent Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 1.75 crore annually. That leaves about Rs 2.5 crore unaccounted for per year.
‘‘If the trustees do not come forward with the records for money, it will be treated as unaccounted for’’ said Advocate P A Pol, vice-president of the St Xavier’s School Parent-Teacher Association. “This could attract stringent action from the Education Department, including lodging of an FIR for destruction of evidence and misappropriation of funds.”
Giriraj Gupta, the consulting accountant for the school, refused comment. The trustees were ‘‘unavailable’’.