DU refutes Dy CM Sisodia's allegation of corruption against it

New Delhi: Delhi University on Friday refuted the allegations of corruption levelled against it by the city government last week, saying it "has offended the sentiments varsity staffers and students who have worked hard to build the academic standards of their institutions.

The varsity and the government have been locked in a tussle over the formation of governing bodies in 28 colleges with 12 of them being fully funded and 16 partially funded by the city government.

The colleges have claimed that they have been unable to pay staffers' salaries due to insufficient grants released by the government.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister, had said last week, The inability of Delhi govt-funded DU colleges to pay salaries to their staffers despite a 70 per cent budget increase in five years indicates corruption. The refusal to form governing bodies and repeated complaints of corruption raise many questions on the DU administration.

The colleges refuted the allegation of corruption asserting that none of the three-level annual audits of the varsity finances has revealed any financial bungling over the years.

There are three types of audits conducted on annual basis -- internal audit, conducted by DU-approved panel of auditors, Examiner Local Funds Account audit or ELFA Audit conducted by the Delhi government and the AGCR conducted by CAG, the varsity said in a statement.

The audit reports of all these colleges till date reflect that the financial affairs are managed as per the University of Delhi norms and general financial rules, said Professor Balaram Pani, DU's Dean of Colleges.

As far as the increase in expenditure on account of salary and other than salary expenses is concerned, Pani said the increase in expenditure on account of salary from 2014 till date is due to the implementation of the seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) which raised the salary per person by approximately 25 percent, besides the raise effected by the government in wages paid to contractual staffers.

Among other reasons for the rise in varsity's expenditure, he cited the increase in salary of ad-hoc faculty from Rs 56,080 in 2014 to Rs 89,781 in 2020 amounting to almost 60 percent hike and the annual increment and increase in dearness allowance to staffers.

Pani also counted the addition of new courses in colleges resulting in greater expenses towards teaching and non-teaching salary bills.

It is an obvious conclusion that the colleges cannot be involved in graft cases at all and it is unfortunate that the statement in the media by deputy CM has offended the sentiments of staffers and students who have worked hard to build the academic standards of their institutions, he said.

Pani appealed to Sisodia to release the grant-in-aid to all 12 fully-funded colleges at the earliest to end the sufferings of staffers of those colleges and fulfil its statutory obligations and responsibilities .

Among other reasons behind the increase in expenditures of the colleges, he also pointed out the 25 percent increase in the number of students due to the implementation of EWS quota in admissions during 2019-20 and 2020-21.

The cumulative effect of all these parameters leads to almost 80 to 100 percent rise in expenditure on account of salary head in 12 colleges.

There has also been an increase in expenditure under the head other than the salary.

The increase under this head is on account of the following factors inflation, increased number of students due to implementation of EWS reservation, increase in electricity and water bills, expenses on sanitation and security and on account of shifting to a new campus.

"The cumulative effect of all the above factors increased the expenditure under the head other than salary by approximately 300 to 500 percent, Pani said.

The governing bodies of all 12 colleges have been formed as per DU rules and regulations.

As per DU rules, there is no linkage between the formation of the governing body and release of grant-in-aid. Withholding funds required for the salary of staff and their medical bills and other committed expenses like electricity and water supply charges etc has caused extreme hardship to staff and students of these colleges, he said.