Chinh editor promises another issue on JJ malpractices

Says he has enough evidence for Part II, and claims he did seek an official version from the higher education department

The case involving the alleged corruption at JJ School of Art just got murkier. Satish Naik, editor of the Marathi magazine Chinh (Symbol), which featured an exposé of the ‘scams’ at the institution, claimed he had over 400 documents to prove his allegations and might bring out a another issue on the malpractices.

The focus of this time’s issue — called Kaala Bazaar, in keeping with the nature of its contents — is the “blatant corruption going on the JJ School of Arts”, Naik said. It details the misdeeds of the authorities in a satirical form, and asks Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Dilip Walse-Patil, to take action. Naik, who has received threats for publishing the magazine, said he has a list of malpractices at the college.

Among others, the syllabus has not been changed since 1972; students are harassed by teachers who are “just diploma holders and not at all qualified”; the posts of the Dean and Director have been vacant for the past six years, and that since 1986, 102 posts in four government-run art colleges have been vacant as well. He added that the technical infrastructure at the college was abysmal, with the computers having stopped functioning a long time ago, and that several old and valuable works of art have disappeared from the college.

Naik said he sent a questionnaire with about 40 questions about the malpractices to Jageshwar Saharia, principal secretary in the higher education department, but there was neither acknowledgement nor response. He said the authorities planned to convert the Dean’s bungalow into a museum, but added that since the house was completely infected with white ants, no artefacts would survive. Naik alleged that the move was nothing but a ploy to seize eight acres of prime land on the premises.

Several eminent Mumbaikars, who are also former students, showed up at the magazine’s release on Friday to lend their support to Naik. These included film costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, artist Prabhakar Kolte, Marathi actor Sandeep Kulkarni and corporator Vidya Chavan. Athaiya, who released the issue, and has contributed to it, took several copies home to “give to my family and friends to read”. Kolte said it was better to shut down the institution whose reputation had taken a beating — or strive for more autonomy and creative freedom for the students. Chavan promised to look into the matter, and make sure Walse-Patil takes note of the allegations as well.

w_archita@dnaindia.net