Disruption in Kerala govt's monthly grant allocation leaves universities in financial crisis

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government’s monthly grant allocation has been disrupted, pushing universities in Kerala into financial crisis. Though the education department issued an order for the allocation, the finance department retracted it by citing the financial crisis. This is the first time the grant allocation gets disrupted, affecting the salary and pension distribution of the employees. 

The supposed allocations to Kerala University, Calicut University, MG University, CUSAT, Sanskrit University, and Kannur University are Rs 30 crore, Rs 20 crore, Rs 16 crore, Rs 14 crore, Rs 6 crore, and Rs 5 crore, respectively.

The opening of new universities and reduction in internal revenues of the universities have been attributed as the reasons for the financial crisis. 
The state government maintained that the issue will be resolved soon and directed the universities to use their own fund or UGC’s project fund or else bank overdraft to meet the salary and pension expenses. 

The universities followed the directive to disburse this month’s salary and pension. However, the financial crisis remains unresolved. A university reportedly had to make use of the chancellor’s award money to disburse salaries and pensions. 

If the financial crisis continues, then it will badly affect academic activities.