Delhi govt forcing colleges to pay salaries from students' fund, alleges DUPA

The Delhi University Principal's Association (DUPA) on Thursday accused the AAP government of forcing colleges fully funded by it to pay salaries from the students' fund, saying this would amount to misappropriation.

Reacting to DUPA's assertions, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in a statement questioned the source of funds for these colleges and said when they have sufficient money in their fixed deposits, why are they struggling to pay salaries to their staffers.

In an online briefing on Thursday, DUPA said the city government gives grant under two heads – Plan and Non-Plan.

"It is clearly mentioned in every sanction letter that funds cannot be transferred from one head to the other. How come the Deputy CM is asking the colleges to pay the salaries from the Student' Society Fund, which is collected from the students for specific activities and purpose?" they said.

Any diversion of funds, would amount to misappropriation, "which we are not doing but the Deputy CM is forcing us to do", they alleged.

"It is very unfortunate that he misled by saying that enough funds have been provided in the current financial year," the DUPA said.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Sisodia had alleged misappropriation of funds in DU colleges and said they have enough funds in their Fixed Deposits and are still not paying salaries. He had said that the government has provided enough funds to colleges for their projected salary needs.

According to the figures shared by the DUPA, the government had released a grant of Rs 245 crore to the 12 colleges fully funded by it.

The requirement for the financial year 2020-21 stands at Rs. 270 crore, which has been calculated by adding 10 per cent on account of increment and DA.

"Ideally, 75 per cent of the required grant (Rs. 270 crore) i.e. Rs. 202.5 crores, should have been released before July, 2020, whereas only Rs. 37.5 crore has been released till date. This is violation of pattern of assistance for release of Grant-in-aid to 100 per cent funded colleges, communicated to us by the Directorate of Higher Education, Delhi government in January this year," they said.

The Students' Society Fund and Development Fund are collected from from the students every year by all colleges, in the country, which are governed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations and nowhere, are salaries paid out of these funds, the DUPA explained.

These are used for organising students activities and supplementing heads where the government grant is either insufficient or not available, they explained.

The Delhi government is also conducting a special audit of six colleges -- Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Maharishi Valmiki College of Education, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita College, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College.

"It is also a matter of concern, as to the basis of identifying the six colleges for the special audit – Is it because the members of their choice could not elected as chairperson in the governing body of these colleges? – If that is so, it amounts to scuttling the democratic process," the DUPA said.

Reacting to the DUPA's assertions, Sisodia, in a statement on Thursday, said some colleges of the Delhi University are depositing their funds in FDs and incessantly demanding money from the Delhi government.

"According to the rules regarding pattern of assistance, these colleges need to meet all thier expenses from the funds they get from various other sources and only after that, if there is any shortage, they will be compensated by the Delhi government.

"Unfortunately, when the Delhi government asked for the accounts for sources of income from these colleges, they denied to present those accounts," he claimed.

The Delhi government has increased the budget for these colleges by two-three times already. Despite that, these colleges have failed to pay the salaries of their staff, he said.

"If these colleges do not disclose how they have spent their money, on what basis can the Delhi government release funds?" he said.

On one hand, these colleges have been saying that they do not have sufficient funds to pay the salaries of their staff, and on the other hand, the money in their FDs is consistently increasing, he said.

"This money is not provided by the Delhi government to deposit in the FD. Some colleges have FDs that have up to Rs 15 to 30 crore".

He questioned the source of these funds and how they are being used.

"What portion of this money has come from which sources? How is it being used? This needs to be investigated by the audit team. I hope that the Delhi University administration will co-operate with the audit team in investigating the possibility of corruption in the college funds," he added.