Jadavpur University has told the state government that it has not received the money the Centre promised under a scheme to fund research and scholarships.

JU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das had on November 26 stated at a virtual meeting with higher education department officials that the Union education ministry was holding back the Rs 35 crore the university was to get under the scheme.

The meeting was held after a state government official had told educational institutions, including JU, following a prod from the Centre, that they needed to intensify their efforts towards completing the projects approved under the scheme in the current fiscal.

The university has been forced to stop spending under Rashtriya Uchchatara Siksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) 2.0 as the Centre is yet to sanction the second and last instalment of the grant amounting to about Rs 35 crore, officials said.

“The non-release of the second instalment of the grant has caused unimaginable distress to 450 young scholars – working as RUSA 2.0 Fellows – who have had to bear the double burden of having to find alternative sources of income in the unprecedented situation of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Das told The Telegraph on Sunday.

“Most of them have been engaged in research and project-related work without receiving any remuneration since April 1, 2020. This has forced many of them to take up jobs they would not normally.”

In May 2018, JU and nine other universities from across the country were selected for receiving Rs 100 crore each under of the scheme.

JU had received the first instalment of Rs 41.67 crore (Rs 25 crore from the Centre and Rs 16.67 crore from the state) in November 2018 and utilised it by the end of March 2020.

Under RUSA 2.0, the Centre is to release 60 per cent of the amount and the state government the rest.

The state’s grant has to follow the Centre’s. Since the Centre is holding back its share, the RUSA 2.0 rules prevent the state from releasing its.

The scheme was to end on March 31, 2020, but the Centre extended it till March 31, 2021, VC Das said.

A state government official said JU was told at a meeting between the education ministry and VCs on July 7, 2020, that the second instalment was not being released because 70 per cent of the teaching posts were vacant.

“The condition was not mentioned in the RUSA 2.0 guidelines. It was not mentioned when the grant was sanctioned. How can a grant be stopped halfway?” asked Das.

A letter addressed to Bengal education secretary Manish Jain from the education ministry in September says: “However it has been noticed that there is shortfall in faculty by 3 %. 70% faculty is required in order to process the next instalment and the University has 67% faculty. The university is requested to do the recruitment and meet the criteria of 70% faculty as soon as possible to avail the next installment.”

Repeated calls to Manish Jain went unanswered.

VC Das had in a letter to Sunita Siwach, the national coordinator of RUSA, on September 9 written that 69 per cent of the teaching posts had been filled. The pandemic, Das mentioned, stood in the way of filling over 90 per cent of the posts.

Das also wrote: “Under Rashtriya Uchchatara Siksha Abhiyaan (RUSA) 2.0 it was not stated that having 70 per cent of all the teaching posts filled up was an essential pre-condition for receiving the grant.”

The state government had in early December written to the ministry, reiterating JU’s stand.