Panjab University financial crisis: UGC decision soon

On the other hand, the PU authorities have informed that a decision from the UGC’s fact-finding committee is expected soon and almost all the records have been submitted to the committee.

As Panjab University (PU) struggles with the ongoing financial crisis owing to a complaint made by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad alleging misappropriation of funds, the party members stand strong on their ground.

On the other hand, the PU authorities have informed that a decision from the UGC’s fact-finding committee is expected soon and almost all the records have been submitted to the committee.

In April this year, a complaint was made against the PU authorities by ABVP to the Union Minister of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Smriti Iraani. According to the complaint, ABVP alleged that the money collected from the students as hostel fees was being misused by the authorities and was not even being listed as a part of the PU budget. The issue was first raised by members of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and was further taken forward by ABVP.

“We had filed many RTIs and substantiated our allegation with all the right documents. Submitting all the required reports to the MHRD, we had filed a complaint with them in April this year in Delhi. The hostel funds have been highly misused over the years and it is a scam worth crores of rupees,” said senior leader of ABVP Dinesh
Chauhan.

He added, “There obviously was some basis to the allegations we made, which is exactly why the matter was taken up seriously by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and a fact-finding committee was set up for in-depth investigation of the issue.”

Since the setting up of the fact-finding committee, all funds to Panjab University from the Centre stand frozen, leading to a major financial crisis at the varsity. PU authorities recently also conveyed it to the MHRD that without the funds, the university is finding it difficult to pay the salaries of its employees.

PU authorities have appeared in front of UGC’s fact-finding committee thrice so far and the facts presented by the university are being analysed by the committee.

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The authorities have informed that the balance sheet has been submitted to the committee and the last of the needed records will be presented in front of the UGC by Friday.

PU vice-chancellor Professor Arun Kumar Grover said, “We have money only to pay the employee salaries for September. As soon as this money gets over, the budget will be presented to the Senate in the last week of September and revised estimates have to be sent to the UGC by September 30. I will be in Delhi until the funds are released.”

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