Goa Khabar : The Goa Forward Party launched a scathing attack on Goa University Vice Chancellor Prof. Harilal Menon at a press conference today, terming his recent statement blaming the university’s domicile clause for its NIRF ranking decline as “a blatant lie.”
Addressing the media, GFP General Secretary Prashant Naik said, “After our previous protests, we hoped the VC would reform his ways, but he continues to mislead the public. His claim that the domicile requirement has affected the university’s ranking is completely false.” He then invited GFP Vice President Dilip Prabhudesai to elaborate with evidence.
Dilip Prabhudesai accused the Vice Chancellor of systematically undermining Goan scholars. “There are several qualified and accomplished Goan researchers at Goa University who have published in reputed journals. Meanwhile, there are at least four faculty members from outside the state who have little to no academic output,” he claimed.
Prabhudesai alleged that the Vice Chancellor is pushing an agenda to bring in non-Goans to secure positions at the university without merit, calling the current administration “a den of fraud and lies.” He ridiculed the VC’s claim of 59% campus placements, stating, “Most of these are for teaching jobs in local colleges, not core industry placements. This is a cover-up in anticipation of further drops in university rankings.”
On the matter of extension programs, Prabhudesai asserted that while the VC claims to have launched new initiatives, “existing programs were discontinued over the last 4–5 years. The university is now sending faculty into villages to fabricate data and pretend these programs exist.”
He further revealed that Goa University allegedly does not maintain any alumni records, which is a critical component of national assessments. “The university’s ranking depends heavily on the quality of its curriculum, its implementation, and learning outcomes , none of which the university ensures. Colleges do it, the university does not.”
Prabhudesai also claimed that the Vice Chancellor had ordered staff, through departmental deans, to fabricate documents ahead of the upcoming NAAC assessment. “The NAAC team must be informed that they are being shown falsified data,” he said.
The GFP also accused the VC of falsely taking credit for programs conceptualized and launched by the Directorate of Higher Education, and even misrepresenting the Shyama Prasad Stadium, maintained by the Sports Department, as university property.
“There’s a myth being peddled that Goans are not eligible to become Vice Chancellor,” Prabhudesai said. “But there’s a professor at Goa University who has been offered the post of Director at a Department of Atomic Energy research institute in Indore which is a position far senior to that of a Vice Chancellor.”
The party also raised serious allegations of misconduct under the current VC’s watch, including a shocking case of ragging and sexual harassment of male students during a competition called Third Degree of the University’s cultural program called Frolic. “A female student who was not allowed to leave and was forced to watch even complained to the authorities, but the VC is attempting to cover up the incident,” Prabhudesai revealed, demanding a high-level government inquiry into the matter.
Calling for immediate action, Prashant Naik concluded, “The Vice Chancellor is set to retire in two years. But if he is granted an extension, he will bring Goa University to ruin. The Chief Minister must act now to sack him and set the university back on the right path.”
