SAHIWAL: The Punjab government and the Punjab Higher Education Department have yet to materialise financial issues of the University of Sahiwal (UoS), which has been facing deficit budgets year after year.

Dawn learned not a single penny has been transferred to the public university since its inception in June 2015. In 2018-19, of the Rs389 million budget, the UoS has a shortfall of Rs181 million. An additional proposed deficit budget of Rs340 million will add to the total deficit in the upcoming financial year 2019-20. With that, the deficit will be Rs521 million.

Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Muhammad Nasir told Dawn the UoS needed Rs498 million, and of that 68 percent would go to cover the previous deficit.

“Through the Finance and Planning Committee, I got recommendations of spending Rs400 million deficit budget on daily affairs of the university, but allocation of permanent budget from provincial government is needed to run day-to-day affairs of the university,” he said.

Dawn learnt from sources many things have been corrected in the last six months both at administrative and academic level. These issues included the appointment of a permanent VC, grant of a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Higher Education Commission in January 2019, opening of a special drawing account in February 2019 at the local accounts office and advertisement for new faculity recruitment.

“These measures will not do any good to the UoS as no development and non-development funds have been transferred either from the Punjab government or the HED,” he said.

The UoS still faces major problems such as the approval of ‘Service Statutes’ by the chief minister and the governor, hiring of 109 faculty and administrative staff, release of Rs60 million outstanding remuneration to 130 visiting faculty members, transition of administrative power from the Bahauddin Zakariya University to the UOS, launch of new BS (four years) and Masters disciplines and Rs6 million pending payments to security personnel who guard 70 acres campus of the UoS.

The UoS is running the affairs with the fees collected from 2,600 students who are enrolled in eight academic disciplines, a private source told Dawn.

Though the UoS has been an autonomous institution by an act of the Punjab Assembly since 2015 but since its inception, salaries of 35 teachers directly come from the BZU accounts.

The university needs additional Rs2.5 million for monthly staff working in the evening time for the last two years. The VC demanded employees’ salaries come from the Punjab government account under newly opened SD account at the local accounts office.

Several people told Dawn it looked odd the government began a public university but till date no development and non-development funds were released for it.

Dawn learnt that in 2016-17, the UoS administration sought Rs1.27 billion budget but not a single penny was released. Regarding the shortage of faculty, the VC argued university lacked 60 to 70 per cent of the senior teaching faculty. The university advertised posts but as no Service Statute of the UoS was passed, so hiring could not be done.

It is said a summery of service statutes has been with the Punjab Law Department for the last one and a half years. It is said that in the last three months newly appointed VC met Governor Muhammad Sarwar - once in Lahore and twice in Chichawatni - and exclusively discussed the allocation of budget and the passage of Service Statutes but still nothing concrete was done from his side.

Because of the non-approval of Service Statutes, it is feared the HEC would cancel the optional NOC granted to the UoS till January 2020. Several staff members said the university status and facilities did not make it a university but only a ‘sub-campus’.

“Even the existing physical structure is meant for a sub campus and not for a university,” the VC said.

The UoS campus lacks boys’ hostels, auditorium, VC and faculty residences, central library, academic blocks, sports grounds, security control rooms, lab equipment and furniture, conference and seminar halls, administrative blocks, parking lots for staff and students and personal vehicle for the VC.

VC Nasir said additional Rs4 to 5 billion development funds were needed to convert the sub-campus level structure into a full university.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2019