The 3-member committee led by Prof Mohammad Mahbub Ullah came to Sylhet Saturday morning and talked to the VC and other officials. Two others in the team are UGC member Md. Sultan Hossain and Deputy Director Prof Dr. Mizanur Rahman.

The team worked till midnight Saturday night and called files from different departments yesterday, sources at SUST said.

Till yesterday afternoon, about 40 teachers, officials and employees from rival groups aligned with the two major political parties met the probe committee and submitted documents and newspaper clippings in support of their allegations.

Some newsmen of national and regional newspapers also meet the team members and handed over newspaper clippings to substantiate different allegations of corruption and irregularities against the former administrations of the university, the sources said.

An eight-member team of SUST Teachers Association (SUSTA) , a five-member team of pro-BNP teachers led by Prof Habibul Ahsan and an eight-men team of pro-Awami League teachers led by former president of SUST Prof Akhtarul Islam met the committee separately, the sources said.

They raised different allegations of corruption and irregularities against SUST administrations at different times.

Some of the teachers and employees demanded punitive steps against those who helped former VC Musleh Uddin in alleged irregularities done during his tenure. They also handed over documents in support of their statements, the sources said.

When contacted, the UGC team leader declined to say anything about the complaints.

"We are getting complaints and evidences while receiving statements", Prof Mahbub Ullah said.

"We will have to thoroughly check all those. It is not at all possible to make any comment till we finish our work. We will continue till Monday", he said.

In September 2002, a probe committee led by UGC member Prof Dr. AKM Muhsin detected several irregularities in purchase of Tk 2 crore books for the varsity library and certificate forgery. Some of the allegations were sent to the then Bureau of Anti corruption for further investigation and action, but the matter ended there, sources said.

There were allegations of irregularities against the immediate past VC Prof Musleh Uddin Ahmed. He was appointed Pro VC of the university on February 14, 2002 and made VC within a few months.

Before he was compelled to resign, Prof Musleh Uddin appointed 155 teachers, 51 officials and 134 employees during his 18-month tenure, sources said.

Prof Musleh Uddin was forced to leave the campus after signing his resignation letter in the afternoon of May 14, 2006 in the face of students' agitation following the death of SUST student Mosharraf Hossain Shamim in police firing. The unrest began following a clash between students of the varsity and a nearby private medical college.