Arrange funds to be self-reliant, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar tells state universities

Rohtak/karnal, April 9

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has asked state universities to arrange funds and become financially independent in order to attain full autonomy.

“I tell the VCs that the state government will continue to have a say in running the universities as long as we provide financial support to them. They can have full autonomy if they arrange funds and become self-dependent,” Khattar said addressing an alumni meet on the campus of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) at Rohtak today.

Will have say till we give aid

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I tell the VCs that the state government will continue to have a say in running the universities as long as we provide financial support to them. Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister

The Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (HFUCTO) and other associations of university teachers have decried the CM’s stance.

“A welfare state is supposed to ensure the provision of education and healthcare to all residents. The Supreme Court has ruled that the universities are autonomous bodies and the governments should not interfere in their functioning. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has also laid down specific guidelines in this regard. Any move which attacks the autonomy of the state universities will be opposed tooth and nail,” asserted HFUCTO president Vikas Siwach.

Siwach, who also heads the MDU Teachers Association, pointed out that the state government’s financial contribution towards the university was already less than 25 per cent and it seemed that it wanted to curtail even that, which was not acceptable.

It may be pertinent to mention that the Haryana Government has been under fire from various quarters for its move to take control of the appointments of faculty members and other officials at the state universities.

The unions of university and college teachers as well as non-teaching employees from Haryana had staged a massive protest demonstration against the said move in Chandigarh.

Later, while addressing the 11th annual convocation of IIM-Rohtak, he called upon the youth to use their training and skills acquired in the field of management for the development of society and nation-building as well. The CM conferred around 300 degrees to the students of IIM-Rohtak.

The CM exhorted the alumni of the state’s educational institutions to contribute generously in cash or kind to support their alma maters.

Meanwhile, in a meeting in Karnal, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday chaired a meeting of religious and social organisations at Dera Kar Sewa in the city to invite them to a state-level function in Panipat on April 24 to commemorate the 400th Parkash Purb of Guru Teg Bahadur.

“The 400th Parkash Utsav is being organised across the country. Due to Covid, we couldn’t organise the initial programmes, but now, we are organising a state-level function in Panipat where people across the state will participate,” said Khattar while interacting with mediapersons.

Under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, a step was initiated to commemorate the birth anniversaries of Gurus and great leaders to bring their teachings and works done by them to general public. For it, museum, monuments would be constructed, the CM added.

The present government had organised district, state-level functions to mark the birth anniversaries of Maharishi Valmiki, Sant Ravidas, Sant Kabirdas, BR Ambedkar.