Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande informed the Legislative Council on Wednesday that his department required to reallocate funds for paying salaries to about 10,500 guest lectures working in various universities in the State.

Responding to questions raised by Basavaraj Horrati (JD-S) and others, Deshpande said the State required at least Rs 80 crore for the timely disbursal of salaries to the guest faculty who had been promised a salary of Rs  8,000 to Rs 10,000 a month.

“But the financial situation is so bad within the department that we are unable toclear even the backlog of Rs 52 crore,” Deshpande said.

The minister said the previous government had allocated only Rs 21 crore in Budget 2013-14 and this needed to be revised. He said the appointment of guest lecturers this year would be completed before July 15.

On raising the salary of guest lecturers, Deshpande said it would be considered in future. He said the University Grants Commission (UGC) scale was not applicable to guest lecturers, despite the Opposition stating that the clauses under the UGC suggested that contract lecturers, who have cleared the NET examination, were eligible for salaries to the tune of Rs 25,000 per month.