UGC seeks PU's response over anomalies in action plan report

The UGC has pointed out certain anomalies in the five-year action plan report submitted by the Panjab University (PU) to turn its revenue deficit to zero.
The central university in Chandigarh has been given two weeks time to respond to the contradictions pointed out by the University Grant Commission (UGC).
"There are various contradictions in the action plan submitted by the university. While the university has proposed reduction in teaching as well as non-teaching posts, it has not reflected the resulting reduction in the expenditure," a source said.
"The UGC has also asked Panjab University to submit an action plan to enhance the revenue generation through internal resources. The varsity was earlier directed to not create any new academic or non-academic post or fill up any existing post without concurrence of the Centre. However, there has no been no committal response from the PU," the source said.

Panjab University is facing an unprecedented fund crunch with its faculty members moving court against delayed disbursal of salaries last month.
The university's vice chancellor Arun Kumar Grover confirmed receiving a communication from the UGC seeking response on the issues pointed out by it in the revenue plan.

"We will file a point-wise reply to the issues pointed out by the UGC," he said.
Earlier this month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had noted that the UGC follows different yardsticks to release funds to Panjab University than it does for other varsities.
The High Court had observed that the UGC might "convert Panjab University into a resort" and shift its students to other universities.

"For the Centre, Punjab, UT (Chandigarh) are not part of it. Be it airport (Chandigarh airport issue), colleges (affiliation-related issues) or now PU, they have different yardsticks for them and different for others," the HC bench had observed.
"Let it be closed as centre of learning. The students could be shifted to Punjabi University (Patiala) and GNDU(Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar). UGC may convert it into a resort," the bench had said.