Patna, May 19: Patna University is set to run into a financial crisis. The university’s internal resources are exhausted, as it has been paying teachers’ salaries from its own pocket since January this year.
While the state government gave out salaries of employees for January and February, according to the old pay scale, no fund was sanctioned for March and April, sources said.
After the implementation of the recommendations of the sixth Pay Commission, the salaries of the teaching and the non-teaching employees of the varsity have increased by more than 40 per cent. The university employees were supposed to receive the revised pay scale from January. The university had to cough up Rs 3 crore from its own pocket to add to the salaries released by the state government, so that the teachers got their pay according to the revised pay scale.
Sources said if the state government doesn’t sanction funds soon, the university would not be able to clear the salaries of its employees from May.
The state government did not release any fund for March and April. As a result, the university had to spend around Rs 7 crore from its internal resources to clear the salaries of the employees.
In January, the state government introduced the new pay scale for the employees of the university after a meeting with Patna University acting vice-chancellor Sudipto Adhikari and higher education director J.P. Singh.
Patna University Teachers’ Association general secretary Randhir Kumar Singh told The Telegraph: “If the state government can pay salaries to its employees under the sixth Pay Commission, why is it not clearing the funds for the raised salaries of the university employees?”
Sources in the human resource development department (HRD) said Patna University authorities have written a letter to the state HRD department demanding Rs 70 crore from the state government to meet its expenditure, which includes payment of salaries to its employees, payment of pension and arrears to its retired employees, electricity bill and money spent on court cases.
However, the university has not received any reply from the state government, the HRD sources added.
The Rs 70 crore bailout package also includes Rs 22.5 crore that the university has spent from since January on the payment of salaries and other sundry expenditure.
