Thiruvananthapuram: Nearly three years after State Bank of India mistakenly transferred $20,000 instead of ₹20,000 as honorarium to a Brazilian journalist, Kerala University has ordered the Director of its Centre for Latin American Studies (CLAS), Prof R Girish Kumar, to reimburse the resulting loss of ₹16.51 lakh to the university.

The decision, issued by Vice-Chancellor (in charge) Dr Mohanan Kunnummal, has triggered criticism from a section of faculty members, who argued that the university failed in moving against the bank despite the bank admitting to the mistake, and saying that it would recover the money from the officials concerned.

In May 2023, the Centre for Latin American Studies (CLAS) conducted a two-week summer school programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students from affiliated colleges and departments of various universities. As part of the programme, Brazilian journalist Milan Sime Martinic, an expert in Latin American affairs, conducted four online sessions, and as part of the remuneration, asked the SBI's Kariavattom Branch to transfer ₹20,000 to Martinic's wife Kathleen Martinic's account with the Bank of America in Houston, Texas. "I specifically wrote to the bank to transfer an equivalent of ₹20,000 in dollars at ₹5,000 per session," said Prof Girish Kumar, who is also a faculty member of the Department of Political Science.

But on June 15, 2023, SBI's Thejaswini Branch at Technopark transferred $20,000 to Kathleen Martinic's account.

The funds were drawn from a ₹2 crore special grant allocated for Kerala University's Centre for Latin American Studies in the 2022-2023 State Budget. It was an initiative of former Finance Minister K N Balagopal to strengthen academic and cultural engagement between Kerala and Latin America.

The bank admitted its mistake and apologised to CLAS, but has not refunded the money.

In October 2023, the bank wrote to Prof Girish Kumar saying: "If the erroneously transferred money is not refunded by the recipient, the bank will be recovering it from the officials, and the process towards the same has already been initiated in this case." Onmanorama has seen the letter.

It is also learnt that the official responsible was transferred out of the Technopark branch. But nearly three years later, the bank has not refunded the money to the university yet.

The banking ombudsman has asked the bank and the university to initiate legal action to recover the money from the Bank of America.

Prof Girish Kumar said the recovery from the recipient has become complicated after the untimely demise of Martinic in April 2024.

In his reply to the registrar's notice, he said the matter was reported to the university on January 27, 2024.

In fact, the Executive Council of CLAS, chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof Kunnummal, resolved to initiate legal proceedings against the bank. The Syndicate Sub-Committee on Finance also recommended the same course of action. The university then conducted an audit through its internal audit wing, which also attributed responsibility for the erroneous transfer to the bank. Yet, when the matter was placed before the Syndicate for a decision, the vice-chancellor deferred it, said sources in the university.

The UDF-affiliated Kerala University Teachers Organisation (KUTO) has termed as illegal and condemnable the university's move to hold a faculty member responsible for a fund transfer error at SBI.

KUTO pointed out that the Ombudsman found that the bank violated the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), requiring the account holder to be informed before transferring out more than ₹10 lakh.

Accusing the Vice-Chancellor of resorting to politically motivated action, KUTO accused the university of not acting on the complaint for more than 800 days before moving to recover the money from the teacher for the bank's mistake.

In a statement, KUTO demanded that the Vice-Chancellor withdraw the notice that could weaken the case against the bank, and immediately resume legal proceedings to recover the university's loss.