The Ministry of Human Resource Development has started a Visitorial Inquiry against Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Talat Ahmad for alleged irregularities in administration and financial subjects, The Indian Express reported on Sunday.

The ministry was replying to a Right to Information query filed by a professor, Obaid Siddiqui, who had earlier approached the Delhi High Court about Ahmad’s alleged wasteful expenditure on hosting a team from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, arbitrary quotas and misuse of government accommodation, the report said. The vice chancellor allegedly spent Rs 26 lakh on the NAAC team in 2015.

Replying to Siddiqui’s RTI query, the ministry said it has asked the University Grants Commission to “constitute a Visitorial Inquiry through UGC as per orders of the president of India in his capacity as the visitor…” The committee has to submit its report by February 28.

The Delhi High Court also asked the ministry and the UGC to forward Siddiqui’s complaint to the president, in his capacity as visitor.

Meanwhile, the vice chancellor told The Indian Express that he had already responded to the allegations. “These complaints are not new, and I have provided all justification earlier too,” he said. “The complainant is a professor suspended because of pending inquiries against him.”

Siddiqui, the RTI applicant, has written to Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, saying he has not once been contacted by the inquiry committee. “I am the whistleblower/complainant, but the inquiry committee constituted by the UGC has not contacted me once to know my side of the story…” he wrote, and asked why the vice chancellor has not yet been suspended or sent on forced leave. “He is still working as the vice chancellor and influencing witnesses and tampering with documents.”