Higher edu dept seeks report from Punjabi varsity on ₹150-cr overdraft
IN 2013, THE UNIVERSITY HAD AN OVERDRAFT OF ₹10 CRORE, WHICH WENT UP TO ₹90 CRORE IN 2018 AND ₹130 CRORE IN 2019
PATIALA: The state department of higher education has questioned the Punjabi University administration over the bank overdraftcum-loan it has taken without “consultation and approval” to clear its liabilities. The overdraft limit of the university has touched ₹150 crore this year.
“The university must submit details of how it will utilise the overdraft amount, besides sending re-payment review report within 10 days,” a demi-official (DO) letter by secretary higher education Rahul Bhandari to vice-chancellor Prof BS Ghuman says. “The university has taken an overdraft of ₹150 crore without having any consultation and approval from the department concerned. The university has failed to prepare a strategy to pay back the loan,” it adds.
Overdraft is a financial instrument in which the money can still be withdrawn from the current or savings account, even if the account balance goes below zero.
It may be mentioned that due to poor financial condition, the university has been taking the loans to meet its committed expenditure. In 2013, the university had an overdraft of ₹10 crore only.
In 2015, the syndicate approved the university’s proposal to increase overdraft limit from ₹16 crore to ₹50 crore to meet its salary and pension obligations.
In 2018, the university took an overdraft of ₹90 crore, and it went up to 130 crore in 2019.
Prof Ghuman could not be contacted despite repeated attempts to reach him and there was also no response to the text messages. Registrar Devinder
Singh Sidhu said since he joined only recently, “I am still holding meetings with the finance officer to get details of the university’s financial condition”. “I can comment only after studying the facts,” Sidhu said.
Meanwhile, president of Punjabi University Teachers’ Union Prof Jaswinder Singh Brar said it was a suicidal path for any institution to take loans to meet its liabilities. Brar said it was clear that the “varsity is in a grave financial crisis”.
“So far, the university’s response to the situation has been to resort to more and more borrowing from banks which is not in the interest of the institution in the long run. This policy of overdraft at exorbitant rate of interest has been pushing the university into a debt trap which will ultimately lead to financial collapse,” Prof Brar said.
On the other hand, the joint action committee formed by another group of teachers has taken a strong notice of “interference by officials of higher education department in the internal affairs of the university”.
“The university was established under the Act passed by the legislature and is an autonomous
institution. Seeking explanations from vice-chancellor and other officials is not at all acceptable as this is a direct attack on the autonomy of the university,” said Rajdeep Singh, spokesperson of the committee.