Transfer of funds to state treasury: Kerala varsities face heat, projects stall

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has directed varsities to transfer their funds received to the State Treasury and the same has been affecting their operations. The university departments are cancelling projects as they are unable to withdraw money when required. Even projects supported by UGC are stalled due to this. 

Heads of departments are left with no other option than to fire research assistants and abandon projects midway. This financial year, the universities are unable to utilise the amount allocated via various schemes as it is deposited in the treasury account. 

The government demanded that the remaining funds in university PD accounts be transferred to the treasury in March. The money is earmarked as a non-plan contribution.  Apparently, all the non-plan expenditures, including salaries and pension, will be met from this fund.

Personal Deposits (PD) are maintained in the treasuries in the nature of banking accounts. These are commonly known as Personal Ledger (PL) Accounts or Personal Deposit Accounts.

Kerala University alone has 45 departments that have been allocated with project funds ranging from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 3 crore, depending on the project. Usually, this amount is deposited into the departmental PDs managed by SBI. 

As bills were not cleared on time from the treasury, the funds required to purchase equipment for scientific research projects or pay salaries to assistants stalled. 

The government had earlier indicated that it would withdraw from the financial responsibility of the universities. An order was issued stating that universities should find their own means for pensions. This was withdrawn following the protest. In the last fiscal year, the government did not sanction the final installment of salary. The universities had to pay salaries using their own funds.