Financial crisis of MKU dominates discussions at Senate meeting

Financial crisis of MKU dominates discussions at Senate meeting

Madurai Kamaraj University Vice-Chancellor J. Kumar said the university followed its own method to handle the situation.

Vice-Chancellor says the government has been apprised of the financial crisis at MKU; issues pertaining to delay in payment of salaries, transparency in expenditure are also discussed

THE HINDU BUREAU

MADURAI

The government had been apprised of the financial crisis at Madurai Kamaraj University and steps were being taken to resolve the problem, said Vice-Chancellor J. Kumar at the Senate meeting held on Tuesday. He said the Chief Minister could intervene in order to resolve the issue and the university administration would wait for the move.

Issues pertaining to delay in payment of salaries and transparency in expenditure were also discussed at the meeting. A communication was sent to the university with regard to audit objection and it was being looked into, he said.

Mr. Kumar said the university followed its own method to handle the situation. He was responding to the query raised by Senate member Sankar Natesan who sought to know about short and long-term plans for revenue generation to improve the present financial situation.

To a similar query raised by A. Velanganni Joseph, another member, Mr. Kumar said steps would be taken to resolve the issue on the administrative side. A. Chandra Bose, a member, resolved to request the Syndicate that the university fix the maximum duration for Ph.D. thesis evaluation and create an effective online tracking system so that students would be able to know the status of their theses.

After raising queries pertaining to infrastructure issues on the university premises, a Senate member, M. Sulthan Ibrahim, stressed the need to form a committee in order to rectify exam-related issues. The Syndicate members said the issues would be duly addressed.

Syndicate member Nagarathinam told the Senate members that some of the queries that were being raised at the meeting were being repeated in different words. The Senate members said they should be allowed to present their views at the meeting.

In the adjournment motion moved by the Senate members, issues pertaining to mandatory publication of papers in journals, relaxing the Ph.D. entrance cut-off from 50% to 35%, expenses of the university and Honorary Doctorate for freedom fighter Alagam Perumal Kone were discussed. Mr. Kumar read the Vice-Chancellor’s report on the academic developments. A RUSA team also conducted a review of the various projects taken up by the university.