Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has said that 12 colleges of Delhi University accused of not paying the salaries of teachers, are engaged in criminal activities by hiding funds provided by the Delhi Government.
Sisodia who also holds the portfolio of Education in the Delhi Cabinet alleged some colleges were spending money in lakhs of donations but not paying salaries to teachers.
Addressing virtual conference with media, Sisodia said the Delhi Government did a special audit for these colleges. Yesterday (Tuesday) we received an initial report from the auditors. It was revealed that the colleges that were screaming about Delhi Government not providing funds to them, have kept these funds under fixed deposits (FDs).” Sisodia said the colleges have enough funds in their FDs and other existing accounts yet the administration is not paying salaries to its staff. CAG empanelled auditors have find it out in their initial observation report. This is almost criminal and totally unacceptable, he added.
Citing documents of fund grants to 12 Delhi government aided colleges under Delhi University administration, Sisodia said his government has providedsufficient funds to the colleges for their projected salary needs under the pattern of assistance. “College administration should not become a pawn of their political masters in BJP and should stop playing with the lives of their staff and students in these difficult times.”
Sisodia pointed out a huge misappropriation in the accounts of the six DU colleges where Delhi government had initiated an independent audit.
“AAP government stands together with the teachers in this time of difficulty and it is important for everyone to understand how the DU administration has mismanaged funds given by Delhi Government. The Delhi Government has provided enough funds to these colleges for paying the salaries but in their initial observation report, the auditors have found that those funds are being directed elsewhere rather than paying the salaries to the teachers. Projected salaries for this academic year is 300 crores and Delhi government has provided sufficient funds to the colleges under the pattern of assistance,” he said.
Sisodia said that both BJP and DU are playing politics on this matter, “Teachers are not getting their salaries despite the Delhi government providing timely grants. Few teachers came to meet me and shared their concerns about salary payment. They shared that there is a need of proper audit of the college funds and suspected that funds are diverted towards non-salary expenses. We wanted to get at the bottom of this, as there could be a case of fund misappropriation. Therefore, the Delhi government started a special audit of these colleges. We asked the names of the auditors from CAG and started the process of auditing these colleges from CAG empanelled auditors. In the first week of September, six colleges were audited by them. Yesterday, we received an initial observation report from the auditors and some shocking revelations have come out”, he said.
Sisodia said, when I took up this issue of non-payment of salaries, I found that the salary grants for these colleges were progressively increased over the past few years. In the last five years, the grants to these colleges have almost been doubled.”
He pointed out that Keshav Mahavidyalaya has 10.52 crores INR as fixed deposit. He questioned that if they have so much money, why are they not paying salaries to their teachers.
“The salary grant paid by Delhi government to Keshav Mahavidyalaya was 10.92 crores INR in the year 2014-15 and last year the government paid 27.9 crores INR. Within five years, their salary grants have almost tripled. Even after receiving so much amount, they are not paying salaries to their teachers”
Sisodia further added, “The closing balance of Bhagini Nivedita college shows that currently they have around 2.5 crores INR as fixed deposits in their accounts.
The salary grant paid to Bhagini Nivedita in the year 2014-15 was around 8.4 crores INR and last year it was increased to 18 crores INR. It is surprising that they are claiming lack of funds and at the same time, not cooperating with the auditors also.”
He said, “Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies didn’t even provide their audited balance sheets to the auditors. However, it was found that they had around 3.5 crores INR in their balance sheet in year 2018-19. On top of that, they have 10.45 crores INR in fixed deposits. Even after having close to 14 crores INR with them, Delhi university and college administration is blaming Delhi government for not providing funds. This is highly unacceptable”
As the auditors started asking more questions around the fund utilisation and fixed deposits, the college administration stopped co-operating with the auditors. It was also found that there is no audit done on the fees collected by the students under different heads.
Different college administrations are inappropriately spending the amount collected by students. In one case, the college administration donated an amount of 25 lakhs INR without following the due process.
The 12 colleges which are affiliated with the Delhi University and are fully funded by the Delhi government are Acharya Narendra Dev College, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, Bhagini Nivedita College, DeenDayal Upadhyaya College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya Women’s College, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education & Sports Sciences, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College (DU), Maharshi Valmiki College of Education, Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.