Financial crisis plagues Panjab University as UGC delays grant

CHANDIGARH:With the delay in the release of the second instalment of grant by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to Panjab University, the ‘financial crunch’ continues for the authorities, who have to struggle every month to manage Rs 25 crore for the timely disbursement of salaries to 3,000 employees on the campus.

NSUI workers collect Re 1 from PU students. Tribune Photo: Manoj Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28

With the delay in the release of the second instalment of grant by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to Panjab University, the ‘financial crunch’ continues for the authorities, who have to struggle every month to manage Rs 25 crore for the timely disbursement of salaries to 3,000 employees on the campus.

Even though PU Vice-Chancellor Professor Arun Kumar Grover said the salary for July would be disbursed on time, the grant from the HRD Ministry is still awaited.

In the meantime, the authorities have managed the funds from their own kitty to disburse the salary till the grant is released. Records of the university revealed that due to the delay in the release of the first instalment of the grant (Rs 72 crore), the salaries from April to June were managed by shifting funds from various heads by the authorities, which is yet to be transferred back.

So far, the university has received a grant of Rs 40 crore from the UGC for which the utilisation certification has been submitted by Grover to the UGC.

The VC said on July 11, he sent a communication to the UGC Chairman, requesting him to get the grant for July to September released at the earliest by the HRD Ministry, so that salaries and pension of the staff could be disbursed on time.

He said a detailed report had been prepared by the Finance Department on the campus in which it was found that in the past five years, the university had generated income on an average of 12.5 per cent. On the basis of this, he had demanded enhancing of the grant by 12 per cent to the university.

Sources said the base financial year which the PU took in this proposal was 2013-14, when the PU was granted Rs 163 crore for the first time from the non-plan budget of the UGC.