Rs 52 crore allocation may financially stress Madras University

CHENNAI: With the State government having allocated only Rs 52 crore to the University of Madras, the institution could face another round of financial pressure this year, as the amount is significantly below what it requires to meet its overall expenditure.

The issue is likely to come up for discussion at the university's Senate meeting, scheduled for Friday after a gap of more than a year. The meeting is significant as the university is required to approve the budget and take up discussions on several administrative and financial matters.

According to university sources, the institution requires around Rs 100 crore from the government to meet its expenses, but the State has only provided Rs 52 crore in the budget. The shortfall could put additional pressure on the university's finances, including salaries, pensions and other administrative expenditure.

Last year, the University of Madras paid Rs 95 crore towards retirement benefits to retired staff from its Rs 300 crore corpus fund. The university has also been paying monthly pensions from the interest generated by the corpus fund. The university faced a similar financial situation the previous year, with government assistance proving insufficient to meet all its financial commitments.

Sources said the current situation has again raised the question of whether the university would have to depend on its corpus and other resources if additional government assistance is not released. However, no decision has been taken so far to withdraw money from the corpus fund this year.

Speaking to DT Next, former University of Madras Vice-Chancellor SP Thyagarajan said the government should allocate a special reform package to the University of Madras to help it overcome the fund crunch. He also said the university should focus on generating its own revenue and a vice-chancellor should be appointed soon. He recalled that the University of Madras was once financially strong and had a revenue surplus.

Professors from the university have also raised concerns over the State government's fund allocation, pointing out that Rs 525 crore of the Rs 767 crore allocated for State universities has gone to Annamalai University and the remaining Rs 242 crore has been distributed among other State universities, they said.

They also pointed out that timely release of adequate funds would help the University of Madras manage its regular commitments without excessively depending on its own reserves. University of Madras registrar Prof Dr Rita John replied that the university is not reeling under any financial crisis now. The Senate meeting on Friday is therefore expected to provide a clearer picture of the university's financial position, including its fund requirements and the measures proposed to manage the funding gap.