University cheats teachers of GPF

PATIALA: A faculty for self-preservation is necessary when you have an employer such as Punjabi University.

Since October 2012, the university has not transferred money into the general provident fund ( GPF) accounts of members of the faculty. The teachers’ GPF component of the pay arrear released in March 2013 also is not in the accounts yet, although the cash component of pay arrear already has reached the teachers and other members of the university staff.

As its rules, the university has created individual GPF accounts of all employees, and the amount deducted from the salary the day it is paid should move into the GPF account the same day automatically.

Sources in the institution’s GPF department said the total amount yet to-be deposited was at least Rs 16 crore. “The members of the faculty are biggest losers in this fraud,” said a source. “They are also losing a good amount of interests on the GPF money.”

The university has the habit of doing it. In 2011, it had delayed the depositing of the money into the GPF accounts by almost

NO MONEY DEPOSITED INTO ACCOUNTS OF PUNJABI VARSITY FACULTY SINCE OCT 2012; NO ANSWER TO WHERE IT’S GONE

three months, and teachers had lost huge money in interest.

“It is gross violation of the GPF rules, as any PF deduction from salary has to go into the beneficiary’s account the same say as pay,” said a source.

“Yes, the GPF has not been deposited into the accounts of the employees since October 2012,” university finance controller Baljeet Sidhu accepted. He fumbled when asked where this amount had been used. “Only the registrar can tell you, as he is the finance adviser,” he said. Registrar AS Chawla did not pick repeated calls to him at his mobile-phone number.

Sources in GPF department feared that the heavy interest on this money had gone into either some university projects or the pockets of some officials. The Punjabi University teacher coordination committee has submitted a memorandum to V-C and asked for a high-level probe.