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2 hours ago
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While most government employees in Kerala have received their salaries and Onam bonuses, staff at APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) continue to wait anxiously for their dues. The prolonged delay has caused concern among the nearly 200 employees, who are now pinning their hopes on a Syndicate meeting scheduled for Tuesday (September 2, 2025).
A statutory meeting of the university’s Finance Committee was convened by Vice-Chancellor in-charge K. Sivaprasad on Monday (September 1). While previous meetings of the Finance Committee, Syndicate, and the Board of Governors (BoG) had to be adjourned due to lack of minimum quorum, the meeting on Monday faced no such hurdle. Nine members, including the Additional Secretaries of the Higher Education and Finance, took part in the meeting.
Sources said that the committee has reviewed and recommended the budget for approval. While chances appear bright for a Syndicate clearance of the budget, the Vice-Chancellor could exercise his statutory authority to approve the budget seeking the BoG’s nod, considering the urgency of the situation. The decision will later be placed before the BoG for ratification, official sources indicate.
Notably, the Vice-Chancellor had earlier invoked such special powers to approve the release of funds during the first quarter of the present fiscal year. At the Finance Committee meeting, some members flagged the purported failure of the Vice-Chancellor to seek ratification of the particular decision at the various statutory bodies.
Sticking to procedure
While Left-backed staff organisations had urged the Vice-Chancellor to approve the budget using his authority, Prof. Sivaprasad remained firm on his stance to stick to the mandated procedure since bypassing statutory bodies could pave the way for legal hurdles or audit objections at a later stage.
While staff salaries have been delayed for two months, pension disbursements have remained stalled for three months.
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