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- Punjab Government announced to increase 7 crores in its annual fund for the Panjab University from existing 26 crores to 33 crores.
- MHRD has also increased its annual grant to PU by about Rs 10 crore.
The Punjab Government recently announced that it will increase its annual fund for the Panjab University (PU) by Rs. 7 crores to provide major financial relief to the university.
Manpreet Singh Badal, Punjab Finance Minister while presenting the annual budget for the year 2017-18 in the Assembly said that though the government faces extreme constraint on the resources, it has decided to enhance the fund grant for Panjab University this year to Rs. 33 crore from the existing Rs. 26 crore. He added that over the years PU has been unable to meet its requirements.
Earlier Punjab government had put a limit on the university’s contribution and used to provide Rs. 20 crore annually and Rs. 6 crore to its affiliated colleges. However, since many years, the university has been asked to revise its fixed grant followed by the student protests in the month of April.
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The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has also increased its annual grant for the varsity by about Rs. 10 crore from last year’s Rs. 198 crore to Rs. 207.80 crore with a promise to increment 6 percent more funds from the coming year. The HRD Ministry wrote to University Grants Commission (UGC) stating that it will be providing Rs. 207.80 as the overall amount of central assistance to PU from this financial year and this will be the base to estimate the future grant.
The union ministry last month received UGC report on the revenue plan and expenditure submitted by PU after which it has now decided to increase the grant for the University. The ministry has also asked the varsity to follow financial rules which will make PU accounts open to observation by both Auditor General and Comptroller of the country and MHRD’s Principal Accounts Office.
However, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has the right to decrease the provided central assistance on the basis of the periodic review of PU’s financial position and on the contribution of Punjab Government.
MHRD had granted Rs. 197.73 crore fund last year to the varsity after limiting to fund Rs. 176 crore from the year 2014-15.
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The letter reads that the university should seek agreement from UGC/ MHRD while filling up of any vacant position or before creating new non-academic or academic posts in future, adding that provisions will be made incorporating the UGC orders to releasing funds to PU and UGC will also ensure that PU's financial accounts have been inspected for the last three years.
