Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 3: Seeking to downplay its recent audit inspection by MHRD in the wake of Central University of Jammu figuring in the list of 11 non-performing universities of the country, the CUJ today said it was lagging behind in infrastructural development due to financial mess created during the year 2013 and Rs 144 crores were now required for completion of the ongoing projects.
“CUJ was listed as non-performing university because we were behind the schedule of infrastructure development. Still we don’t have classrooms even as the Government allocated funds but the same were spent on non-prioritized areas,” explained Dr Ravi Kumar, Registrar of the CUJ, while talking to media persons during a press conference, here today.
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Informing that the funds meant for infrastructure development were spent on conservation of water bodies and the roads etc, he explained that Central University statutes do not talk about the distance education but the priority was given to construct building for the same and guest rooms instead of academics and class rooms. “This is the reason that the university is forced to take classes in the residential quarters and we have been questioned for this also,” he said.
Dr Ravi Kumar also disclosed that the varsity floated tenders for the projects worth Rs 486 crore against the financial allocation of just Rs 322 crore in 2013, which led to stoppage of funding from the University Grant Commission (UGC) for development activities. “The original budget estimates for establishing the university campus in Bagla village were of Rs 690 crore which were revised to 1087.72 crore. The university was granted the funds to the tune of Rs 322 crores but it floated the tenders worth Rs 486 crore in 2013 and that led to a deficit of Rs 164 crores,” he explained and added that the university requires around Rs 144 crores for completion of ongoing projects of infrastructure development.
Flanked by senior faculty members Prof Lokesh Verma, Prof S K Sharma and others, the Registrar also sought to justify the engagement of retired Professors on contractual basis because of acute shortage of senior faculty. “The senior professors are reluctant to join the CUJ because they have had certain reservations and this is the reason that we are left with no option other than to engage retired Professors,” he said and added that the university advertised the posts a number of times after 2015 but the people from senior faculty were reluctant to come.
However, Dr Ravi Kumar claimed, despite resource crunch and logistical challenges, the university has been treading on the path progress and it could be gauged from the fact that the enrollment which was just 65 students in 2011 has jumped to 23,500 applications in 2017 from different parts of the country.
In response to a query, the CUJ Academic Coordinator, Prof Lokesh Verma said that final examination results of some PG courses were late because of certain technical reasons and the same would be declared in next few days.
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