Gujarat University’s waste contract has come under scrutiny after the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) alleged that the university hired Dhruv Corporation without a tender to transport campus waste to the Pirana dumping site at rates substantially higher than those cited for similar work by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
The allegations were made by Gujarat NSUI general secretary Vikramsinh Gohil, who claimed that Dhruv Corporation had been handling the university’s waste transportation for around six years. According to the report, the company is paid ₹8,000 per dumper trip to transport waste to Pirana, while the AMC’s quoted rate for similar transportation is between ₹2,000 and ₹2,500 per dumper.
NSUI has alleged that payments exceeding ₹60 lakh have been made without a tender or public advertisement. The organisation has sought an immediate investigation, cancellation of the contract and action against those responsible if financial irregularities are established.
The dispute also raises questions about the division of responsibilities within the university’s waste-management system. NSUI claimed that the university already pays another company, identified as Sun, around ₹22 lakh a month under a tender for cleaning and collecting waste across its campus and departments. Dhruv Corporation, it alleged, was separately assigned to transport the collected waste to the dumping site.
Gohil further alleged that officials in the estate and accounts departments, as well as the registrar’s office, were involved in approving the payments. He claimed that a pending payment of ₹12 lakh had been cleared through a cheque signed by the registrar. NSUI estimated that the university may have suffered a financial loss of between ₹2.5 crore and ₹3 crore. These claims have not been independently established in the supplied report.
The allegations focus on a basic procurement question: whether a public university can assign a recurring waste-disposal service without a competitive tender, particularly when the reported cost is higher than the rate cited for a government agency. Under the university’s stated procedure, expenses above ₹10 lakh generally require a tender process.
Acting Gujarat University vice-chancellor Dr Jagdish Joshi said the student organisation had submitted a representation alleging that Dhruv Corporation was being paid more than the usual rate. He said the university would conduct a fact-based inquiry into why the arrangement had continued for several years.
Joshi added that action would be taken if irregularities were found. He also said the university would examine whether the AMC could perform the work at a lower cost than Dhruv Corporation and indicated that the work could be assigned to the municipal agency if that comparison was confirmed. If the service had been awarded without following the tender process, he said, action would be taken according to the rules.
The university’s proposed inquiry is expected to establish the contract’s approval process, payment records, duration, service quantities and the basis for the per-trip rate. The supplied report does not include a response from Dhruv Corporation or documentary findings from an audit or official investigation.
