Over Rs1.4 billion University of Karachi budget presented
Karachi: The syndicate of the University of Karachi on Saturday approved Rs1,499 million budget for 2008-09, showing a massive shortfall of Rs388 million. The budget will now be forwarded to the KU's senate for approval.
It is worth noting that like the previous year, the current budget was also presented without an audit report, which is mandatory under the University Act.
The KU syndicate, in its meeting, also decided to withdraw 50 per cent subsidies on electricity, gas and water bill for campus residents.
The massive shortfall of Rs388 million in the proposed budget has been reportedly caused due to the reduced funding by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for the last many months.
Observers may recall that the HEC had refused to grant the proposed amount of Rs1,086 million to the university for the financial year 2008-09 and agreed to release only Rs790 million. The HEC has also not released the last year's installment worth Rs237 million to the KU.
Apart from this, during current financial year the university received the first installment for the first quarter of the year from the HEC after a delay of three months. The HEC paid Rs158 million for the first quarter, though the university had proposed Rs271 million for each quarter.
Now, the university faces the challenge of generating Rs625 million from other sources in addition to Rs405 million, which it has already committed from its own resources. Given the situation the institution is in, it is very unlikely that the university could generate that much amount in a year.
At the budget meeting, the syndicate members approved the withdrawal of any subsidies on electricity, gas and water charges for campus residents while the vice-chancellor, Professor Dr Pirzada Qasim, proposed curtailing the university expenses by 25 per cent.
The members also endorsed the decision of the finance committee of postponing restructuring of the finance department and up-gradation of all the posts, including that of the registrar, and sending all such cases to the human resource committee.
Sources said that though the university had imposed a ban on appointments, post up-gradation, retrospective promotions and thus payment of arrears, overtime and procurement and purchases of generators, computers and furniture etc, the restriction had been violated in many cases.
For instance, the deputy registrar legal got his up-gradation letter on July 25, 2008 only a day later when the decision against the same was taken. It would be pertinent to mention here that the case of the deputy registrar legal was deferred by the finance committee on May 24.
Members of the syndicate also pointed out that a number of officers somehow got up-gradation letters issued, and that too, without fulfilling the mandatory requirement of appearing before the selection board.
The syndicate allowed a contribution of Rs1 million per annum to the Teacher's Benevolent Fund on the request of the Karachi University Teachers' Society (KUTS) and also approved the merger of the KU botanical garden with the herbarium and the establishment of the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC). The case of the merger and CPC, however, had been made subject to review by the syndicate committee.
Sources said that the university had been failing to present its audit report in the budget meetings for the past two years. According to them, the reason for that is a lack of cooperation on part of the provincial government, which is supposed to send a government official to do the final auditing.
The members approved the budget with the condition that the audit report would be submitted later. Dawn ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔