New Delhi, October 28
Panjab University’s financial woes are about to end. In what can be termed a “Divali bonanza” for the inter-state body corporate long reeling under severe cash crunch, the Law Ministry has said the varsity is a central educational institution under the provisions of the Central Educational Institutions Act, 2006 and can be funded by the Centre -- a demand PU Chandigarh has long been making.

The opinion, given by the Attorney General of India (AGI) Ghulam Vahanwati, was today received by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, which can now set into motion the process of PU’s funding through the UGC. It is learnt the formalities will be met by Divali.

The development follows a meeting the Prime Minister’s Office convened on this issue recently; the meet ended with a decision to seek the AGI’s opinion on whether PU -- an inter-state body corporate and not a central university (since it has not been set up by an Act of Parliament) -- can be treated as a central educational institution (CEI) for it to be funded by the government through the UGC and for it to also implement the 27 per cent OBC reservation as mandated for all CEIs.

The AGI in his opinion favouring PU’s status as a CEI is learnt to have cited the fact that the university has in any case been receiving substantial central funding through the Home Ministry. Currently, 60 per cent of PU’s annual budget is funded by the Centre and the rest is supposed to come from Punjab Government. But the latter has been paying only about 10 per cent annually, pushing up PU’s deficit, pegged at about Rs 45 crore annually.

That explains a concerted demand from the PU faculty to declare the institute a central university and let it be funded by the Government. But Punjab Government has been resisting this demand for political reasons. Even on technical grounds, since PU has not been established under an Act of Parliament, it does not qualify as a central university.

But the AGI’s opinion allows for central funding under the Central Educational Institutions Act. The university’s governance structure will, however, remain what it was. “After AGI’s go-ahead, UGC can start funding the PU without affecting its governance structure. The technical problem now stands resolved,” sources in the ministry today told The Tribune.