MADURAI: ( A comprehensive cover story written by journalist Shastry V Mallady for the January 2022 issue of his ‘CoverPoint’ magazine about MKU is being published in Lotus Times media website today – on November 16th 2024, because the situation has not improved, and infact the crisis became worse. This article is being reproduced/uploaded as it is in our LT for a larger reach to online readers, to highlight the situation like in an intensive care unit).
The Madurai Kamaraj University is a top class campus of excellence in Tamil Nadu and carries the prestigious tag of ‘University with Potential for Excellence’ in India. It is now groing through a severe financial turbulence and here we are analysing the reasons and finds out whether this State-run varsity can be back on track soon.
It is one among the few selected universities in India in 2007 for the status of University with Potential for Excellence (UPE) given by the University Grants Commission. It got A++ accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in 2021. It is know for its quality research in various disciplines especially in the science streams and also a pioneer in offering distance education courses. But, the MKU is presently undergoing financial turbulence that is impacting its focus on excellence.
Established in the year 1965, MKU had grown from strength to strength in its reach and outreach activities making a mark for itself in the higher education landscape. But, in recent years the situation has turned grim since this excellence tagged university has landed ina severe financial crisis due to various internal and external factors.
What happened in December 2021 tells the real story. The university staff did not receive their salaries on the usual date and pensioners did not get the pension. Finally, the authorities somehow managed to disburse salaries and pensions after the matter went to the attention of the government, higher education department, media and general public.
Prof.V.S.Vasantha, Registrar in-charge of MKU (in 2022), was candid while explaining the current financial crunch and spelt out the reasons for slide in varsity revenues when this journalist met her on December 22nd 2021 to gather details about this threatening crisis.
CORPUS FUND BECAME ZERO:
“The corpus fund of MKI is now zero. Expenses have gone up and income sources have fallen. There was a time when this university had a corpus of Rs.220 crores as a fixed deposit and the bank interest received for that was utilized for our pensioners. But today the financial situation is grim,” she says sitting in the hot chair.
WHAT ARE THE REASONS?
The increased financial commitment for the MKU towards disbursement of pension and other terminal benefits to the pensioners has been increasing substantially year after year. For instance, the number of university pensioners as of March 2005 was only 447. This pensioners number had gone up to 1,185 by August 2021.
A detailed document was submitted to the State government on financial status relating to pension corpus fund. To ensure the smooth disbursement of pension and terminal benefits, a corpus fund has been created during the period 2004 to 2012 with an amount of Rs.221 crores out of the ‘surplus funds’ and it is named as ‘Pension Corpus Fund’.
MKU sources told the journalist that the monthly pension liability was only Rs.29,73,298 for 477 pensioners in March 2005. This pension payment was met out of the interest accrued from the pension corpus fund. This pensin commitment increased manifold for MKU over the years and by August 2021 there are 1,185 pensioners and hence the pension amount needed per month amounted to Rs.4,60,95,884.
“The pensioners’ number increased by 2.5 times and pension commitment amount increased by 15 times,” MKU Registrar in-charge Prof.V.SVasantha has explained. And, the monthly salary commitment to pay salaries to employees is Rs.3.3 crores plus and another Rs.35 lakhs to pay for casual workers.
WHAT IS THE AMOUNT AVAILABLE?
Due to the rising financial commitments, the pension corpus fund position of MKU had deteriorated from 2012-13 as the university started settlement of pension benefits of retiring and retired employees by using the corpus fund. According to the white paper submitted to the government, the pension corpus fund amount was amost zero as the corpus amount had fallen from the whopping Rs.221 crores top just Rs.14,56,313 (about Rs.15 lakhs only).
Another reason for the increased financial commitments is the 7th Pay Commission. University authorities point out that the amount needed to pay for pension to retired employees has oncreased by Rs.One crore per month and this has to be met from the available sources only.
DISTANCE EDUCATION FALL:
The MKU used to be one among the top destinations for distance education courses in Tamil Nadu and across the country with its vast network of study centres. But, due to the change in policies related to offering of courses in distance education mode by varsities, the enrolment of students in the Directorate of Distance Education (DDE) came down from 53,000 students to just around 5,000 students in the last 10 years. This had resulted in a huge fall in university’s annual revenue whereas the expenditure for other heads continued to increase sharply. For the DDE, its jurisdiction had shrunk to Madurai, Theni, Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts
“We need Rs.4.9 crores per month for pension alone and it is more than our salary commitment. Since there is no corpus or fixed deposits or good income sources, we are struggling now to meet the monthly expenses towards establishment costs,” a senior MKU official has lamented.
AUDIT OBJECTIONS ARE BLOCKING THE GRANTS:
Many senior level authorities in MKU administration have expressed concern that the pending Local Fund Audit objections accumulated and not resolved over the years are now coming in the way of getting grants. It was pointed out that the university is losing about Rs.25 crores per year because of audit objections and ‘some of the audit objections are very flimsy’.
A special committee has been formed now to immediately put focus on clearing the audit objections as early as possible. The total number of pending Local Fund Audit objections up to 2019-20 is 3,366, and these objections are the main reason for stoppage of block grants.
MKU FINANCIAL CRISIS IN A NUTSHELL:
The Madurai Kamaraj University’s annual expenses is around Rs.120 crores while the income-revenue receipts is only Rs.60 crores. Because of some audit objections raised, the government has disallowed Rs.25 crores fund. Another deterrent is the court cases and litigation that is taking away lot of time for MKU authorities.
Having submitted all the facts and figures in the form of a ‘Financial Status Report for Account No.1’ to the Higher Education Secretary and to the Tamil Nadu State government, the MKU is now hoping for a fast track solution to come out of the turbulence and put its focus on restoring quality academic environment, top class research, patents and administration.
