Delhi University has come under the panel of discussion again for improper payment of salaries to their staff. The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, had ordered a special audit to investigate this discrepancy. The audit has showed that four DU colleges have had a huge misappropriation of funds. The colleges named in the audits are Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. Enough fuds were allotted to the colleges to pay their staff. However, colleges have used the said funds for different reasons.
Due to the college’s inability to pay their staff the Delhi University Teacher’s Association decided to go on a three-day strike. The strike was called from Wednesday,16th September. The Hindustan Times cites that Sisodia has said “Projected salaries for this academic year is Rs 300 crore.” Hence, the Delhi government has provided sufficient funds to the colleges under the pattern of assistance. Nonetheless, the teachers are not getting their salaries. The Delhi government has provided these grants in a timely and uniform manner according to the Deputy Chief Minister.
The CAG office was asked to audit six colleges in the first week of September to investigate this misappropriation of funds. The reports show that out of these, four colleges have illegally stored the grant money for teachers in fixed deposits. According to the audit Keshav Mahavidyalay has 10.52cr as fixed deposit. This is despite the teacher’s grant being increased triple fold since 2014-15. Similarly, Bhagini Nivedita college has 2.5cr in fixed deposit.
Consequently, the accused colleges had a press conference on Thursday. They refuted Sisodia’s claims. They said that the funds in the fixed deposit was drawn from the Student’s Society Fund. This fund is used for student welfare purposes. According to the DU Dean of Colleges Balram Pani, the colleges have only received 37.5cr out of the allotted 270cr fund. Furthermore, members of the Delhi University Principals Association also refuted these alleged claims in the press conference. Nevertheless, Manish Sisodia has said “In reality, these colleges are having surplus amount and yet they are not paying the due salaries of their hardworking teachers. This is criminal and wouldn’t be tolerated.” (Hindustan Times)
