MU seeks ₹91cr as grant from state govt

FINANCIAL CRISIS

MU seeks ₹91cr as grant from state govt

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:28.12.2020

Professors of University of Madras have sought ₹91crore as special grant from the state government to tide over the financial crisis faced by the university.

The 163-year old university’s revenue has been on the decline owing to a fall in admissions to its distance mode programmes and an increase in the financial burden after implementing the recommendations of the seventh pay commission.

“The university has not been able to give pension benefits to its retired faculty members and non-teaching staff since 2016. Even giving monthly pensions has become difficult,” said Professor's Forum of Madras University general secretary S S Sundaram. The university has been paying pension and other benefits to its employees from its own funds. At present, 1,465 people receive pension from the university.

“The state government should give a special grant of ₹55 crore for pensions and another ₹36 crore for meeting the deficit,” the forum said in its representation to chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami and higher education minister K P Anbalagan.

Some professors said the state government should disburse the salary grant monthly to the university. A senior official in the university said the state government has released ₹11 crore towards meeting pension benefits. “We will give the amount to the beneficiaries next week. There are some audit objections with regards to salary grants. We will rectify them and approach the government for additional grants,” the official said.

The professors’ forum said there has been no audit objection to the pension benefits so far.