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Pbi varsity fails to pay pensioners for April, advances semester fee date
Around 2,000 former employees have not been paid pension for April till date
Struggling to meet its committed expenditure, mainly payments of pensions and salaries, due to acute financial crisis, the Punjabi University has now directed students to submit fee by June 8.
Around 2,000 former employees have not been paid pension for April till date.
The varsity’s proposed expenditure on committed expenses is pegged at ₹241.8 crore. The monthly expenditure on clearing pensions is ₹4.5 crore.
As per the budgetary proposals for 2020-21 fiscal, the university is expected to generate an annual income of ₹218.3 crore from academic fees and registration charges.
“It is sad on the part of university authorities to demand semester fee from students by June 8 to meet its committed expenses. Moreover, the varsity is putting a financial burden on the students and their parents at the time of pandemic, which has already affected the savings of every household,” said Varinder Khurana, state secretary of All India Students Federation.
He added that the varsity has also advanced the last date of submitting fee by June 8 as earlier the semester fee was charged in July.
In a notification issued by the varsity, fee deposited after the due date will attract fine.
On the other hand, pensioners say this is for the first time in the history that the varsity failed to clear their monthly dues.
“It seems that the varsity is going through a financial crunch as fee as it has to depend upon students to pay salaries and pensions. If the situation persists longer, the employees will not be paid in the coming month too,” said a senior professor who returned recently.
It may be mentioned that the varsity has failed to implement the repeated orders of the Supreme Court and the high court to ensure that pensioners are paid between the 7th and the 10th of each month. For not doing this, the university has to pay 10% interest.
Varsity registrar Prof Manjit Singh Nijjar said the pensions were delayed due to dearth of funds. “We are still waiting for the funds. On the notification regarding fee submission, he said even that shall not serve the purpose and the university might consider changing the dates for depositing semester fee,” Prof Nijjar said.
