The education department opened a pay verification cell on Monday to bring transparency in financial management and auditing in the state universities.

The cell, which would function from the campus of the Bihar State Textbook Corporation, would primarily verify the pay of all employees of the universities.

This move will ensure expediting timely and genuine payment of salaries to all teaching and non-teaching employees at the universities, without interference from the varsities.

Senior education department officers would head the verification cell. Auditors of the finance department will assist them.

Education minister P.K. Shahi inaugurated the pay verification cell.

Among the officials present at the launch were principal secretary, education, Amarjeet Sinha, Bihar State Education Infrastructure Development Corporation managing director Sanjeevan Sinha and higher education director Sitaram Singh.

Shahi said: “With the launch of the pay verification cell, the education department will have a clear idea about the funds requirement of the universities. It would help us in preparing the universities’ budget.”

Sanjeevan Sinha said the cell would digitise all documents of university employees and update verification slips of the teachers and non-teaching employees on the education department’s website.

He said: “This would bring transparency and uniformity in the payment of salaries and other emoluments to the teachers and non-teaching employees of different universities.”

Sources in the education department said pay verification would be made mandatory for all university employees — in future those university employees whose pay are not verified, would not get their salaries.

The department is also planning to release the salaries of the employees to their bank accounts, without any interference from the varsities once the pay verification of all university employees is complete.

Sinha, the Bihar State Education Infrastructure Development Corporation managing director, said the university employees would have to submit an application along with all relevant documents to the cell. Within 15 days, the cell would verify the salaries of the employees.

Education minister Shahi also spoke on plans to bring changes in the higher education, claiming that National Assessment and Accreditation Council would be mandatory for colleges.

He added that a search committee, headed by an academic with members from the government and Raj Bhavan, would select vice-chancellors in the universities.

On private universities, Shahi said: “Those opposing private universities in the state should understand that they are the need of the hour. There is a large chunk of youths in Bihar who go to private universities in other states for pursuing higher studies. But, there would be no compromise on the quality of education in these private universities here.”