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October 13, 2023 02:22 pm | Updated 02:22 pm IST – MADURAI
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A view of Madurai Kamaraj University. File | Photo Credit: R. Ashok
There is some temporary relief for the staff of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) as the Tamil Nadu government is understood to have released a grant of ₹4.34 crore. With this, the officials said that they would be in a position to disburse salaries for the month of September by next week.
For issuance of salaries and pension to its staff on rolls, the university required around ₹10.5 crore every month. With little reserves at its disposal, the cash-strapped university is confident of releasing salary to its employees latest by Tuesday (October 17).
The State government, which gives a grant of around ₹8 crore (issued in two parts in March and December), has released the second half in advance now so as to enable the administration to clear the salary bill, officials said.
Due to multiple factors, the MKU, a Centre of Excellence, had to examine alternatives for its financial sustainability. After the University Grants Commission’s directive, the distance education program in the university faced the first shot that the revenue started falling.
The new directive pushed the student strength in the distance education program from one lakh to a meagre 5,000 to 6,000 now, the officials said and added that as a result, a major chunk of the cash flow got affected.
When contacted, MKU Vice-Chancellor J. Kumar said that they would be in a position to disburse September salary by next week. He was confident of evolving a system which would enable the university to remain independent. “The sheen will be restored soon,” he added.
The officials said that they required around ₹4 to ₹5 crore towards salaries to its employees and another ₹5 to ₹6 crore for disbursal of pension to its retired employees. “If the government takes over the responsibility of honouring the pensioners bill with immediate effect, the university would be able to swiftly get out of the red,” they opined.
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