Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said that a special audit of five Delhi University colleges funded by the State government revealed serious financial irregularities and violations of UGC norms and the government was considering to initiate legal proceedings based on the report.
“Despite showing a surplus of crores, the salary of teachers and staffers has not been released. This comes after the colleges have repeatedly alleged that the Delhi government was withholding funds,” Mr. Sisodia said.
Resistance from colleges
He said that the special audit, when initiated, was obstructed by the colleges. They resisted from showing their accounts books to the audit officers. The books were finally shown when the High Court intervened and directed the colleges.
“Two major issues have emerged in the special audit — unauthorised payments by the college, and surplus funds being stashed,” said Mr. Sisodia. The colleges that were audited on the order of the court are Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Shaheed Sukhdev College, Bhagini Nivedita College and Maharishi Valmiki College. Two institutions, Aditi Mahavidyalaya and Lakshmibai College, refused the audit to be carried despite the order.
Mr. Sisodia said that Delhi govt. makes payment to all the higher education institutions based on the principle of deficit funding.“The govt. pays these higher education institutions the net deficit between their total expenditure, and their total income,” he said.
‘Undeclared income’
He added that these colleges violated this pattern of assistance as large, undeclared incomes in their accounts have been found by the auditors, which were never declared to the government and the colleges kept taking funding from the government on false premises.
Mr. Sisodia said that as on March 31 Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College has 2₹2.44 crore, Keshav Mahavidyalaya has ₹9.38 crore, Shaheed Sukhdev College has ₹31.58 crore, Bhagini Nivedita College has ₹2.38 crore, and Maharishi Valmiki college has ₹39 lakh but continue to demand the Delhi government to release more funds to pay salary.
