Faced with a dark future, Kannada University V-C seeks government help before power supply firm pulls the plug

“The university has not paid the power bill for the past nine months due to a financial crisis. The pending bills would come to about ₹85 lakh,” university officials said.

The varsity also defaulted on providing fellowships to research scholars.

“I have taken a loan of ₹50,000 to continue my research as the state government is not providing the fellowship,” research scholar Doddabasavaraj AK of the Department of Development Studies, told South First.

“We have not received any fellowship or scholarships since November 2022,” he added.

Researchers are not the only group that has been hit. The university has not been paying its temporary teaching, non-teaching staff, and other contract employees for the past one year.

Hampi University is located at Hospet in the Vijayanagar district.

Set up in 1991, the university is unique, conducting multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research on various aspects of Karnataka and Kannada.

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No funds for salaries 

The state government has been meeting the expenses of the university, including salaries, maintenance, and scholarships.

“We haven’t disbursed the salaries of the temporary teaching and non-teaching staff for more than a year due to the poor financial condition,” Vice-Chancellor Paramashivamurthy told South First.

“Even the fellowship of research scholars has not been distributed for the past four months. We are writing to the government every month detailing the financial status,” he lamented.

The vice-chancellor said the amount the government allows annually was meagre. “We need at least ₹35 lakh to meet the monthly expenses, including salaries. But the government is providing only around ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore a year. It is insufficient,” he said.

Paramashivamurthy wanted the government to provide at least ₹5 to ₹6 crore to the university. “We don’t have any income source as no colleges are affiliated with the university,” he added.

He also said that the lack of grants was hampering the research and other activities.

“We are entitled to get grants from the Union government or University Grants Commission (UGC) only when they assign us any research projects.”

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An SOS from Vice-Chancellor

In his letter, Paramashivamurthy said the government has not sanctioned any development funds to the varsity.

“We couldn’t pay the power bill on time. The university is under severe financial difficulty as we couldn’t get the revenue and grants due to Covid-19 and other reasons,” he pointed out in the letter.

The vice-chancellor said though the issue was raised with the appropriate authorities, nothing materialised.

“Hence, we were unable to pay the electricity bill. Kannada University is a research university. It is different from other universities. It is completely dependent on the grants provided by the state government,” he pointed out.

“The university’s total electricity bill stands at ₹77,25,248. The Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited has warned the university of disconnecting the power supply if the pending bills are not cleared,” he said while requesting the government to waive the power bill.

Though the letter mentioned the dues as ₹77,25,248, he told South First that it was about ₹85 lakh.

“The government even increased the power tariff from June. The pending electricity bill is over ₹85 lakh. We will not be able to pay such a huge amount. Hence, I have written a letter to the chief minister and power minister asking for a complete waiver of the power bills,” he said.

The vice-chancellor stated that the university received ₹50 lakh and ₹1 crore for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, respectively.

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Research work hit

The university has 1,200 students and a majority of them have not received fellowships after November 2022.

Those students eligible for Junior Research Fellowship, National Fellowship of Scheduled Castes and National Fellowship for Scheduled Tribes are getting the money as they are funded by the Union government.

The remaining students dependent on the state government for grants have not received any pay. The government pays research scholars ₹10,000 per month.

“We need to attend seminars, visit other libraries, purchase books, and meet scholars. We need ₹15,000 to ₹16,000 a month to meet the expenses,” researcher Doddabasavaraj said.

He also pointed out a disparity. He alleged that while students of other universities are getting ₹12,000 to ₹22,000 for the same work, scholars at Kannada University are provided only ₹10,000.

“The government will refund our fees but it has not been done for the past two years,” he further said.

Vice-Chancellor Paramashivamurthy said the shortage of funds is affecting the students and their research work.

“The research scholars have to go on field visits, collect data, visit libraries, and meet scholars. We are paying them fellowships and scholarships whenever we get funds. We will clear their dues as soon as the government provides grants to the university,” he assured.

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Shortage of staff

Shortage of staff is another issue the university has been facing. It has only 45 teachers against the sanctioned strength of 72.

“This is a 32-year-old university. In the next two years, at least 50 percent of the staff will retire from service. We are facing a severe shortage of staff,” Paramashivamurthy said.

The university had begun the recruitment process earlier but was stopped following complaints of non-compliance with the reservation guidelines.

“Later, the government said that it is under financial difficulty and did not permit us to resume the recruitment process,” he added.