Varsity yet to receive Rs 281 cr from Centre, Rs 139 cr from Punjab govt
Reeling under financial crisis, Panjab University is yet to receive around Rs 281 crore from the Centre and nearly Rs 139 crore from the Punjab Government.
According to the data available, for the year 2023-24, the Ministry of Education has enhanced the salary grant from Rs 294.78 crore to Rs 346.07 crore, with a provision of annual increment of 6 per cent from 2024-25 onwards, making it Rs 366.83 crore for 2024-25.
Since the UGC has been releasing funds as per old allocation, Rs 51.29 crore for 2023-24 and Rs 54.36 for 2024-25 is awaited by PU. Additionally, the university also awaits the release of Rs 175.51 crore, which has been allocated against the estimated requirement of Rs 278.17 crore with regard to the arrears of salary revision.
The Punjab Government is yet to release Rs 102.66 crore pertaining to the arrears of revised pension, gratuity and leave encashment to the university. Moreover, an amount of Rs 36.51 crore for the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme is also pending towards the State Government, as per available data.
It is important to note that the Board of Finance of Panjab University had recently cleared an estimated budget of Rs 868.48 crore for 2025-26 and revised estimate of Rs 815.71 crore for the ongoing year 2024-25. A total of Rs 22.62 crore has been received by the university against the total allocation of Rs 90.5 crore for 2024-25. The grant gets disbursed on monthly basis, a university official confirmed.
According to sources in PU, the authorities have taken up the issue with the Punjab Government. The public relations official from the university remained unavailable to comment on it.
Expected earning in 2025-26
In the next session 2025-26, the university is expecting to earn a revenue of Rs 383.69 crore, of which Rs 96 crore is expected via fees from partially self-financed courses, Rs 23 crore through the Centre for Distance and Online Learning (formerly USOL), Rs 167 crore through exam fees, Rs 26 crore from fees from teaching departments, Rs 36 crore from registration/
certificate/CET fee etc, Rs 12.8 crore from hostels, Rs 5.1 crore from sports fees and Rs 12.57 crore through other areas like interest, late admission fees and sale of admission forms.
Rs 388.84 crore is expected from the UGC and Rs 95.92 crore from the Punjab Government for 2025-26.
