LAHORE, June 28: The Punjab University syndicate on Saturday approved a deficit budget for the university for the financial year 2003-04, expecting an income of Rs1.125 billion and expenditure to the tune of Rs1.173 billion.
The syndicate decided that an amount of Rs50.69 million under the head of non-recurring expenditure would only be spent if the government grant was more than 20 per cent of the existing one.
The university expects an income of Rs1.125 billion, which includes Rs270.921 million (27 per cent) of government grants and Rs719.618 million (73 per cent) of its own resources besides an additional grant of Rs53.344 million (20 per cent of the regular grant) from the government.
The university will spend Rs904.120 million under the head of recurring expenses, Rs209.560 million on teaching and non-teaching departments and essential expenditures and Rs9.282 million on 140 new teaching and non-teaching posts during the ongoing fiscal year.
In order to generate extra resources to the tune of Rs81.462 million, the PU syndicate has put an extra burden on off-campus students through increase in examination fees, 25 per cent increase in the tuition fee for self-supporting students and increase in miscellaneous examination dues and other charges with effect from July 1.
Under the head of examination fees alone, the university plans to earn an extra Rs51.042 million. The PU syndicate increased the examination fees from Rs1,200 to Rs1,300 for BA, B.Com, B.Pharmacy (Part-I & II), BSc chemical engineering (Part-I & II) and BSc geology (Part-I & II); from Rs1,500 to Rs1,650 for BSc, BCS, B.Ed, BS.Ed and (LLB Part-III); from Rs1,600 to Rs1,750 for MSc, MA fine arts, BSc home economics (Part-I, II, III and final year), BA fine arts (Part-III) and MFA; from Rs1,350 to Rs1,500 for LLB (Part-I & II); from Rs1,400 to Rs1,550 for MA, B.Pharmacy (Part-III & final), BSc chemical engineering (Part-III & final), BA fine arts (Part-I & II), BSc geology (Part-III & final) and different diplomas; from Rs2,500 to Rs2,750 for MBBS (first, second, third and final professional) and BDS examinations and from Rs4,000 to Rs4,500 for different medical diplomas. The examination fee has been increased from Rs2,400 to Rs2,65 for LLM, from Rs5,000 to Rs5,500 for M.Phil and from Rs12,000 to Rs13,250 for PhD.
The university will earn an extra Rs12.131 million under the head of miscellaneous examination dues, Rs16.05 million through a 25 per cent increase in the tuition fee for students admitted to the self-supporting classes and Rs2.24 million through other charges.
The PU syndicate, however, did not increase the tuition fees and hostel charges for on-campus students. In the budget for 2003-04, the number of merit and need-based scholarships have been enhanced from 1,000 to 1,500 involving an extra Rs3.6 million each.
The syndicate also enhanced the rate of 60 research scholarships from Rs6,000 to Rs7,500 per month involving extra resources of Rs1.08 million. For PhD/M.Phil part-time teachers, the syndicate increased the allocation by Rs1.5 million. For BSc (Honours) part-time teachers, the syndicate increased the allocation by Rs7 million.
The syndicate has allocated Rs14 million for new non-teaching posts and Rs14.85 million for new teaching posts. It also allocated Rs2.84 million for the creation of 15 additional teaching posts — five professors, five associate professors and five assistant professors. The posts will be placed in the university pool and allocated to various departments according to their requirements. These posts will revert to the pool as and when vacated by the teachers concerned for any reason.
The syndicate has allocated an extra Rs1.792 million in the library grant and Rs2.048 million in the laboratory grant. For the purchase of computers and multimedia, the syndicate approved Rs4 million.
It approved Rs21.55 million for new development works and Rs9 million for the construction of BSc (Honours) academic block.
The syndicate approved enhancement in the budget provisions for furniture (Rs4.6 million), stationery and printing (Rs2.045 million), library (Rs7.045 million) and medicines and hospitalization (Rs16 million).
The university also allocated Rs6 million for the purchase of two Hino buses and Rs2 million for the purchase of vehicles for professors serving in BS-21.
PREMATURE RETIREMENTS: : The PU syndicate also approved premature retirements of Prof Dr Amjad Husain Dilawari of the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology and Prof Dr Sohail Ahmad Khan, chairman of Urdu department at the Oriental College. The professors had sought early retirements after serving the university for over 36 years and 34 years, respectively.
It may be mentioned that Prof Dilawari had not been attending the university since 1994 when four university students were shot dead in a clash between two groups. He was students’ advisor at the time.
The PU syndicate was also expected to give hearing to the former PU College of Information Technology principal Dr Majid Naeem, but it could not spare time for the purpose due to the lengthy discussion on budget. Dr Naeem has been asked to appear for hearing at the next syndicate meeting.