MillenniumPost
Delhi

Spl audit shows DU colleges not paying teachers' salaries despite surplus

new delhi: Huge misappropriation has been found by the Delhi Government in its independent audit in the accounts of six of the 12 Delhi University colleges fully funded by it, according to the preliminary findings from the audits. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Delhi government stands with teachers waiting for their salaries while highlighting that the DU administration had purportedly mismanaged funds given by the city government. He said that the government has given enough funding to the colleges for paying the salaries but in their initial observation report, the auditors have found that those funds are being directed elsewhere.

Sisodia said that the teachers suspected college funds being diverted towards non-salary expenses. "Therefore, the Delhi government started a special audit of these colleges." In the first week of September, six colleges have been audited by them, according to the internal report accessed by Millennium Post, which showed that the colleges have kept a huge sum as fixed deposits rather than paying the salaries of their staff.

In the case of Keshav Mahavidayala College, under the 'Student Society Fund', the opening balance on April 1 in the year 2017-18 was Rs 8,65,36,743 and the closing balance in March was Rs 8,39,17,011 which was the opening balance in April for the year 2018-19. The closing balance was Rs 10,04,07,442 as of March 2019, which increased to Rs 10,52,88,590 in the next fiscal. The increase in closing balance indicates that grant withdrawals have been more than the expenses out of grants — contrary to the provision of grants on a net deficit basis wherein the surplus is generated and retained.

A similar pattern was observed in Bhagini Nivedita College while Deen Dayal Upadhaya College and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies did not provide audited balance sheets of the funds and related books, the preliminary audit report showed.

The Education Minister pointed out that Keshav Mahavidyalaya has Rs 10.52 crore in fixed deposits and questioned why they were unable to pay teachers. Sisodia added, "The closing balance of Bhagini Nivedita college shows that currently, they have around Rs 2.5 crore in fixed deposits in their accounts. The salary grant paid to Bhagini Nivedita in 2014-15 was around Rs 8.4 crore and last year it was increased to Rs 18 crore."

It was also found that there is no audit done on the fees collected by the students under different heads. Different college administrations are inappropriately spending the amount collected by students, Sisodia said.

Meanwhile, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College during FY 17-18 donated Rs 25 lakh for "Atal Incubation center" out of the student society fund account. Donations of Rs 25 lakhs under 'donation' is not in accordance with General Financial Rules (GFR) and Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) Guidelines and the terms of grants on a net deficit basis, the report said.

"These colleges were maintaining huge surplus funds in the name of Student society fund account which increased year on year due to Non-consideration of surplus in these funds for working out required grant on net deficit basis," the report stated.

Further, 50 per cent of fees collected from students during admission has been shown under the student society fund account by the colleges and the expenditure made from these funds are not subject to ELFA audit to ensure GFR compliance and approval of the DHE wherever required.

The Delhi government has been directing the colleges to maintain a Governing Body (GB) with a nominee member of the state government. Since 2017 the "GB not constituted as per requirement", the report mentioned. Bhagini Nivedita College had no Governing body during 2017-18.

Teachers from these 12 colleges have been protesting over salaries due to them and some have also approached the Delhi High Court in the matter.

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