MU finance officer resigns

The finance officer of the University of Mumbai has resigned due to the unavailability of funds to pay arrears to non-teaching staff. The university is facing a financial crunch and has been unable to pay the arrears. The finance officer had struggled to get financial aid from the government, leading to his resignation.

Mumbai: The finance officer (FO) of the University of Mumbai (MU) submitted his resignation to the vice-chancellor two days ago. According to sources, he was under pressure because of the unavailability of funds to pay arrears under the Seventh Pay Commission to non-teaching staff at MU.

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After a gap of more than a decade, MU had finally managed to get a full-time finance officer, Professor Pradeep Kamthekar from R A Podar College, who started work on December 18, 2021. According to MU sources, Kamthekar had struggled a lot to get the requisite financial aid from the government but to no avail, which led to his exit.

Since 2012, the state government has withheld over 25 percent of financial aid for MU salaries due to noncompliance with required documentation. As a result, MU has to take on the burden of paying 25 percent of the salaries from the university’s own funds.

On February 20, MU non-teaching staff organised an agitation to demand Seventh Pay Commission pay scales. After this, the state government announced that it would pay them according to this, with arrears of 58 months. MU is facing a fund crunch and was unable to pay the arrears—and because of this, Kamthekar decided to resign, said a source. Kamthekar himself was not available for comment.

Sudhakar Tamboli, a former senate member, said, “Kamthekar played a crucial role in restructuring the financial operations of MU. He also completed pending audits of MU from FY 2015-16 to date. Considering this, the government and MU administration should reconsider his resignation. I also request the government to raise the pending aid of around ₹1,000 crore as early as possible to ease MU’s financial burden.”

Pradeep Sawant, another former senate member, questioned the leadership of MU. “The university administration must clarify under whose pressure Kamthekar resigned from his post,” he said.

When questioned, an MU official said, “Kamthekar sent us his resignation over email. He is resigning for personal reasons.”