The Hindu / Raviprasad Kamila

Mangalore, July 21: The Government owes approximately Rs 1.5 crore to Mangalore University in terms of reimbursement of examination and tuition fee amount waived for students who joined various courses under concession category in the past five years. The dues also cover reimbursement of salary amount of some non-teaching and teaching staff, according to sources in the university.

Many students had joined post-graduate courses on the university campus at Mangalagangotri, the university college (a degree college) and government colleges in the limits of the university by producing low-income certificates. A majority of them were from backward communities. In addition, students from reserved category had joined courses by producing relevant certificates. The university did not collect examination and tuition fees from such students. The Government had to reimburse that amount to the university. But since 2001-02 till 2005-06 the Government had not reimbursed the amount to the university, the sources said.

Of the amount pending, a major share belonged to tuition and examination fee waived in favour of students belonging to backward communities who produced low-income certificates. In addition, the Government had to reimburse the amount of salary given to some non-teaching and teaching staff recruited under backlog category. On a direction from the Government, the university filled vacant backlog posts in the past five years.

A situation had arisen where the university had to pay them from its own internal resources, the sources said.

Though the university authorities had written to the Government, action had not been initiated, the sources said.

On the one hand the Government authorities had been advising the universities in the State that they (universities) had to raise their own resources on the other the Government had not released its share to the university. This was disturbing and it was not the way to promote higher education, the sources said.

The 43rd meeting of the State Inter-University Board on August 17, 2005, resolved that colleges and universities should increase the strength of students to achieve financial viability as financial viability was possible only with the student strength of 900 and 3,000 for colleges and universities, respectively.

But the Government was not allowing the university to increase the affiliation fee of degree colleges. If the university increased the amount of examination and tuition fee it would affect many students, the sources said.