Calcutta University will dig into a fund of several crores of rupees lying unused for more than 50 years to provide scholarships to needy and meritorious students.

Over a span of more than 100 years - since the university's inception in 1857 till the mid-1960s - as many as 116 people had donated money to the institution for giving scholarships, prizes and medals to toppers in the matriculation and intermediate exams.

The funds had been kept unused since the mid-1960s when the university stopped conducting the two exams - equivalent to Madhyamik and the Higher Secondary.

The university hit upon the idea of using the cash cache during a survey to find out whether its funds were being utilised properly or not, pro vice-chancellor (finance) Sonali Chakrabarty Banerjee said.

"The fund, meant for awarding medals, scholarships and prizes to the toppers in the erstwhile matriculation and intermediate exams, has been lying unused for more than 50 years since the university stopped conducting these exams. A move is on to use the money to provide financial assistance to needy and meritorious students," the official said.

An official in CU's finance department said there were 98 endowment funds for the matriculation and 18 for the intermediate exams. The endowments vary between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2,000.

"Most of the funds have been converted to fixed deposits. The total amount has risen substantially because of the interest accrued over the years," the official said.

"We are studying old records to find out the amount accumulated in each of the endowments. The total figure will be known once the process is over but it will be several crores."

Each endowment is tied to a set of conditions laid down by the donor and accepted by the university. The conditions are mostly related to the use of the funds.

For example, some donors had specified that their money should be spent on scholarships to girl students. Some preferred scholarships for students keen on pursuing higher studies in a particular subject. However, all the endowments were meant for toppers in the matriculation and intermediate exams.

It was because of these specific - and varied - conditions that the university stopped using the funds since it stopped holding the two exams.

"But after examining the agreements we found almost all the donors had given the money to promote the university's mission - advancement of learning. So we have decided to use the funds to honour the wishes of the donors," an official said.

The authorities had in August published a notice in newspapers appealing to the legal heirs of the donors to get in touch with them. "No one has contacted us," the official said.