PU senate okays Rs 78-cr deficit budget

PATNA: The Patna University senate on Saturday passed a Rs 78.39 crore deficit budget for the next financial year (2003-04) without much hue and cry.
Maybe, the members of the august house knew that the state government would sanction the budget as per its own sweet will without taking into consideration the actual financial needs of the university.
Representatives of various student organisations demonstrated before the Wheeler Senate House and tried to disturb the meeting, but they were chased away by the police. They were demanding students’ representation in the senate. Presenting the annual budget of the university before the senate at its meeting held here under the chairmanship of vice-chancellor K K Jha, pro-vice-chancellor Jitendra Singh pointed out that the budgetary provisions included Rs 35.74 crore for pay, allowances and pension, Rs 14.19 crore for contingencies, Rs 23.18 crore for retiral dues and Rs 15.75 crore for outstanding dues. The total anticipated income of the university during the period comes to Rs 10.52 crore.
Demanding revision of annual statutory grant of the university from Rs 1.61 crore to Rs 3.06 crore, Singh said the university was facing immense difficulty in maintaining its laboratories, libraries, buildings, university dispensary and student welfare activities due to non-receipt of statutory grants for the last several years. A sum of Rs 2.20 crore has been provided for payment of salaries in the revised UGC scales and a sum of Rs 2 crore has been earmarked for repair of dilapidated buildings of the university.
A development proposal worth Rs 182.73 crore has been submitted to the UGC for the 10th plan period for which the UGC team will be visiting the university in the month of November. The perennial financial crisis prevailing in the university due to irregular release of government grants has been adversely affecting its academic environment, said Singh.
Jha, in his address, highlighted the achievements and failures of the university during the last one year and made a clarion call to the senators to redeem the university of its financial ills. He also drew the attention of the senate towards acute shortage of teaching hands in different colleges and departments, paralysing the academic activities. Only 539 teachers were working against 1,004 sanctioned posts and not a single teacher has been appointed during the last six years.
Some ad-hoc appointments of teachers on purely temporary basis has been made recently to save different colleges from the impending derecognition in the hands of the Bar Council of India, National Council for Teacher Education, AICTE and Indian Council of Architecture. More such appointments are likely to be made during the Durga Puja vacation. Retired teachers have also been asked to enagage classes in different departments, the VC said.
The senate adopted the Patna University Students’ Union election draft regulations with some amendments. It also passed draft regulations on admission to the P-G diploma course in human resource development, duty leave, and P-G diploma course in Hindi journalism. The senate also decided to do away with the supplementary examination in three-year degree course and approved of an amendment in B A/B Sc vocational course admission ordinance. These resolutions were moved by Rajniti Prasad and S L Mandal.
As many as five former vice-chancellors including S P Singh, S N Das, M Mohiuddin, S N P Sinha and S N Ahsan, besides the director of higher education and some legislators attended the meeting.
Issues relating to irregular payment of salaries to university staff, absorption of daily wage employees, unauthorised occupation in university hostels, misuse of vehicles, bus facility for students, immediate election to the university students’ union, modernisation of university press, mobilisation of internal resources, posting of traffic police and zebra crossing in front of every college and conversion of PU into a Central university were hotly debated by the senators.
Prominent among those who participated in the deliberations included Bhola Prasad Singh, Bhim Singh, Ram Naresh Ram, Sudhakar Prasad Singh, Upendra Prasad, G N Pal, Vijay Krishna, Hetukar Jha, Umesh Prasad, K P Singh, G K Chaudhary, S S Prasad and Maya Sinha.