Professors and employees of the Tribhuvan University (TU) have complained that they have not been paid since mid-November.
TU has been unable to pay professors and employees since mid-November after the University Grants Commission (UGC) delayed the release of its budget. On its part, the UGC said the Education Ministry has not approved the university’s higher education programme and budget, so it’s unable to release the budget to the university on time. Prof Dr Hira Maharjan, TU vice-chancellor, said they have been talking to concerned authorities to release the budget as soon as possible.
He said, “Last year, UGC released Rs 3.13 billion to the university and we provided salary to around 15,000 professors and employees. We have been urging the UGC to release the budget early on.”
The budget delay has added to the financial crisis of the varsity, he said. The university has around 15,000 professors and staff. The largest and the oldest university of the country has not been able to sustain on its own. The varsity gets 90 per cent of its budget from UGC grants, while the government provides the rest.
Kedar Acharya, UGC account controller, said, “Though we have been providing funds to TU on installment, we have not released second quarterly budget to it since mid-November.” He said they have been talking to ministry officials on the budget. However, a TU professor said that the UGC has been halting the budget since mid-November because of the debate on TU property and professors’ handover to newly-established varsities. He said UGC plans to release the budget only after a final decision on transfer of TU professors and staff. According to him, around 7,00 professors and employees of the TU will be transferred to new universities.
