The Jadavpur University vice-chancellor has in a letter to the state government pointed out that the government has reduced grants in the 2022-23 financial year by about Rs 7.50 crore, compared to what was sanctioned the previous year.
The university was sanctioned Rs 32 crore in 2021- 22. For 2022-23, Rs 24 crore was sanctioned.
The letter addressed to higher education secretary Manish Jain in September mentions a progressive reduction in the annual state government grant for JU, starting from 2018-19.
As the university is facing a “rising deficit”, VC Suranjan Das has urged the state government to “explore the possibility of at least restoring the annual allocation of 2021-22”.
He has also sought some additional support.
JU requires financial assistance to maintain and sustain excellence, the letter says.
Calls and text messages to VC Das and education secretary Jain about the September communication went unanswered.
The letter addressed to Jain says: “Jadavpur University has been successfully pursuing excellence, attested by national and international rankings….. But to maintain and sustain this excellence, the University requires the financial assistance that I am praying for. I shall remain grateful if this appeal is favourably considered.”
A university official said in the first four months of the current financial year (April-July 2022), the total expenditure incurred was over Rs 13 crore.
During the period, a little over Rs 6 crore has been received as grants from the government.
“If this goes on, the university would be in a financial mess,” he said.
The fact that the university is undergoing an acute crunch because of depleting funds support from both the state and central governments first came to the fore when JU’s finance officer wrote an article in the university’s first newsletter published in September.
The finance officer wrote that non-salary grants released by the state to support academic and administrative activities “are so paltry that this year it will be less than 50% of the fund requirement of JU”.
He wrote that the UGC grants for the development of state-aided universities had “simply disappeared”. A member of the university’s court,
JU’s highest decision-making body, said as JU is a state-aided university, the primary responsibility of funding lies with the state government.
“The university looks to the state government for support for maintaining laboratories and upgrading infrastructure, apart from paying salaries of the teaching and non-teaching staff. So, the state government cannot cut down on grants,” he said.