Jadavpur University in lurch after Centre delays release of funds

The officials further said that the Centre has paused the fund because of which the University had to spend Rs 4 crore from its coffers to pay suppliers and service providers, whose bills had remained unpaid for long.

Jadavpur University has alleged that it has not received the second installment from the Central Government yet under a scheme aimed at supporting research and upgrading infrastructure, the University officials said. The officials further said that the Centre has paused the fund because of which the University had to spend Rs 4 crore from its coffers to pay suppliers and service providers, whose bills had remained unpaid for long.

JU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das said: “We made expenditures following an assurance that the support (from the Centre) would go on. Despite several reminders to the education ministry, the money has not come and we are not able to make reimbursements.”

A JU official told TelegraphIndia that the Centre had been withholding funds for almost 19 months now. 

It must be noted that in May 2018, Jadavpur University along with nine other Universities from across the country was selected for a grant of Rs 100 crore each under the Rashtriya Uchchatara Siksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) scheme. While the Centre pays 60 per cent of the funds, the rest has to be borne by the respective state governments.

In November 2018, the JU had received the first installment of Rs 41.67 crore (Rs 25 crore from the Centre and Rs 16.67 crore from the state). Officials further said the money had been spent by the end of March 2020.

“The pause on the second installment of the Centre’s contribution (around Rs 35 crore) has landed us in trouble because we have made expenditures based on Delhi’s assurance of continued support,” said an official. The scheme was to end on March 31, 2020, but the Centre extended it till March 31, 2021.

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