By IANS,
Chandigarh: Panjab University (PU) Vice-Chancellor R.C. Sobti Tuesday announced that the central government has agreed to provide a grant to clear the financial deficit of the varsity.
“The centre has agreed to provide nearly 90 percent grant to the university to clear its financial deficit. However, there would be no change in the governance or in the governing and administrative set-up of university,” Sobti told IANS here Tuesday.
The Punjab government would provide funds to clear the rest of the deficit, he said.
“But to claim this grant from the central government, we have to strictly fulfil the norms of the UGC (University Grants Commission) and the HRD (human resource development) ministry,” said Sobti.
The university has also got a green signal from the ministry concerned for the payment of pending arrears to its employees, he said.
“We have taken up the matter of PU’s standing legal status with the union law ministry and also pursued it with the HRD ministry and with the UGC. Considering PU legally as an interstate body corporate, the UGC will shortly release grants to us for the payment of arrears to teaching and non-teaching staff,” said Sobti.
“Following the release of funds to the varsity, the teaching and non-teaching employees will get another instalment of 50 percent of the arrear amount of pay revised by the sixth pay commission. The staff had already got 30 percent of the arrear earlier,” he said.
According to a university spokesperson, a professor will get around Rs.500,000, a reader and associate professor will get between Rs.200,000-400,000, while each lecturer will get between Rs.90,000-Rs.125,000 as arrears.
The university, which is one of the oldest in the country, is also the alma mater of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.