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Journalism of Courage
A reduction in scholarships given to students, additional salary allowances given to top officials and stopping the ‘earn and learn’ scheme for students were some of the issues over which Senate members grilled the administration of Savitribai Phule Pune University on Saturday.
Due to the rise in Covid-19 cases and the restrictions imposed thereafter, the meeting of the Senate was conducted online.
However, throughout the meeting, Senate members demanded that an offline meeting be conducted within 15 days to allow them to discuss with university officials issues regarding student welfare and education.
Vice-Chancellor Dr Nitin Karmalkar presented his report, after which the budget of the university for the upcoming academic year 2021-2022 was presented. A budget of Rs 593.54 crore was passed, with a total deficit of Rs 52.71 crore. No new provisions have been introduced in the budget and no new constructions have been proposed.
The vice-chancellor appealed to the members to pass the budget proposal for technical reasons as the budget of the university needs to be passed before March 31 of every year. He also promised to hold an offline meeting within a month for discussions. Senate members raised questions related to examinations and the capacity of the SPPU Edutech Foundation to conduct online examinations. Senate member Santosh Dhore said no further delay should take place in the examination schedule.
Another senate member, Amit Patil, raised the issue of additional funds being given to top officials of the university in the form of allowances, and demanded an independent inquiry into the same.
