Take over salary, pension liabilities of MDU, VC urges govt at virtual meeting

A virtual meeting of the state Department of Higher Education, Haryana Higher Education Council and authorities of state universities was organised on Tuesday.

Raj Nehru, Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister, Prof KC Sharma, Chairman, Haryana Higher Education Council, and vice-chancellors of state universities deliberated on critical issues and possible solutions related to the universities.

The meeting was held as a follow-up action of the meeting of vice-chancellors under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister held in March.

Prof Rajbir Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, raised several key concerns during the discussion. He urged the government to take over the salary and pension liabilities of the university, highlighting the financial stress due to mounting expenditure. He also requested the immediate release of the sanctioned grant of Rs 152 crore for the MDU, which was approved last year but was yet to be disbursed.

Singh also attracted the attention of the state authorities to the 35-acre land parcel of the university that was temporarily converted into a flood drain by the Irrigation Department in 1995, which has now permanently turned into a nullah. He requested urgent intervention of the state government for its solution.

The Vice-Chancellor thanked the government for permitting the recruitment of teaching staff, emphasising the need for sanctioning new posts to support recently introduced academic programmes. He also highlighted the long-pending recruitment of non-teaching staff.