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Fund crunch: Panjab University wrote five letters to Punjab since 2022
Between 2022 and 2023, PU has written a total of five letters highlighting the fund crunch — all after the Aam Aadmi Party took the reins of the Punjab government in March 2022
Even as Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said there was no dearth of funds for smooth functioning of Panjab University, during the meeting called by Punjab governor and UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit on Monday, the trail of letters written by the varsity seeking increase in grant proves otherwise.
Between 2022 and 2023, the varsity has written a total of five letters highlighting the fund crunch — all after the Aam Aadmi Party took the reins of the Punjab government in March 2022.
The first of these letters was sent on November 25, 2022, then another a month later on December 26, 2022. The varsity wrote again on January 11, 2023, and on March 9, 2023.
This was highlighted in the latest letter sent on March 28, 2023, which was part of the agenda during PU’s board of finance (BoF) meeting on April 10.
The letter, accessed by HT, was written as a third reminder to the principal secretary, department of higher education, Punjab, to enhance the grant for PU to implement the revised pay scales, effective from January 1, 2016. The varsity had asked that the annual grant given to Punjab be revised and a one-time grant be given to clear arrears.
The university has an annual recurring liability of ₹56.23 crore to pay the salaries of both teaching and non-teaching employees, including their pensions. Apart from this, the arrears after pay revision amount to ₹278.17 crore.
The university had adopted the 6th Punjab Pay Commission for the non-teaching staff in March last year, revising their pay, while that of teachers was hiked with the implementation of the UGC 7th Pay Commission recommendations, earlier this year.
PU had also mentioned its development needs, including a one-time rejuvenation grant of ₹56.45 crore, a ₹37.62-crore grant for construction of its regional centre at Muktsar Sahib and ₹2.6-crore balance grant for completion of construction of PU Rural Centre, Kauni.
In the letter, PU highlighted that since 2020-21, the Punjab government had not paid the annual 6% hike that it had agreed to do before the Punjab and Haryana high court from 2017-18, leading to a shortfall of ₹4.25 crore.
Punjab government also has to pay ₹20.95 crore to the university under the post-matric scholarship scheme, owed for the period 2013-14 to 2019-20.
“The government is aware of the fund crunch but is stirring up a political controversy. We don’t want to get involved in a dispute between the Punjab and Haryana governments. We only want what is best for the university,” said a PU official, not wishing to be named.
At the Monday meeting, Bhagwant Mann had said despite increased financial burden caused by withdrawal of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and the creation of new universities in the state, Punjab had continued to support PU to ensure that the historical and emotional attachment of the people of Punjab with the university was maintained and preserved.
He said recently also the state government had given ₹49 crore for construction of hostels to the university, even though no demand was made for it.
However, officials said they had yet to receive any letter regarding this, even as sources claimed the grant had been signed by the CM. After the meeting on Monday remained inconclusive, the next meeting is set to be held on July 3.
