Mumbai : Dr Rajan Welukar, one of the most controversial Vice Chancellors of the University of Mumbai, spent Rs 18.22 lakhs foreign and domestic tours in his five-year tenure as vice chancellor, the University revealed in a Right to Information query.
The University said that according to the reply to a RTI query filed by Anil Galgali, Dr Welukar went on 10 foreign tours and 41 domestic tours in his five-year term from 2010 to 2015.
He visited China thrice, Harvard University twice and made one trip each to London, New Zealand and Australia. The university had to bear the expenses of these tours. In the domestic tours, Dr Welukar visited Delhi, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Banglore, Goa, Jammu and Dehradun. There are university guidelines which say that preference should be given to video conferencing over tours whenever possible.
Earlier during a round table conference, Education Minister Vinod Tawde justified foreign tours, provided the visitor files visit reports and makes suggestions and improvements in our system. It is yet not clear whether Dr Welukar submitted such reports to the University.
