Third quarter development grant: Senate body recommends govt to release Rs 4.7 billion to HEC

Senate Standing Committee on Education and Training on Monday recommended that third quarter of development grant worth Rs 4.7 billion allocated for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) must be released on war-footing, besides seeking a report on non-issuance of Rs 5.9 billion to the federally funded higher education insinuations in terms of 20 percent increase in Ad-hoc allowances.
A sub-committee was formed by the committee to look into the matter of non-issuance of 20 percent increase in allowances and was directed that a comprehensive report be submitted to the committee within a week. The committee, which met here with Senator Abdul Nabi Bangash in the chair, flayed the Additional Secretary Finance, Abdul Rauf Khan, on declining that the Finance Ministry had not made any such commitment with the HEC that Rs 5.919 billion would be paid to the federally-funded higher education institutions in term of 20 percent increase in Ad-hoc relief allowances.
The Chairman, while expressing displeasure over the statement of the Additional Secretary Finance, said, "When the 20 percent increase in Ad-hoc relief allowances have been given to other government employees then why not to professors and lecturers, who are working in the federally-funded universities."
Senator Muhammad Kazim Khan also asked the Additional Secretary Finance to inform the committee that why the allowances were not released to the universities hitherto. Meanwhile, Mukhtar Ahmed, Executive Director HEC briefed the committee about the non-issuance of 20 percent increase in Ad-hoc allowances and delay in release of third quarter of development funds to the HEC for the current fiscal year 2012-13.
He said that the government had issued Rs 48.578 billion to the HEC against the earlier commitment of Rs 57.800 billion under the Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) out of which Rs 32.778 billion were allocated as recurring grant and Rs 15.800 billion as development grant.
About the impact of non-issuance of Rs 5.919 billion to the HEC in terms of 20 percent increase in Ad-hoc allowances, Mukhtar told the committee that the situation had created unrest among the academia and other staff of the universities, fearing that it may lead to agitation if the matter was not resolved on immediate basis. He said that the government had granted 20 percent Ad-Hoc relief allowances, increase in pension and conveyance allowance to the employees, of which financial impact comes to Rs 5.919 billion for federally-funded higher education institutions. The additional impact on account of salary increase could not be accommodated within the allocated budgetary provisions and universities are not in a position to pay the allowance to their employees and pensioners.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellors of several universities, including Quaid-e-Azam, Punjab, Peshawar, Wali Khan and Balochistan universities lodged their protest with the committee about the financial problems being faced by them due to the non-issuance of the Ad-hoc allowances. They were of the view that presently only 1.2 percent of the GDP is being spent on the education, which need to be enhanced up to 4 percent. Approximately all the universities are running their day to day expenditures from the revenue generating from their own resources, they added.