ISLAMABAD: The Finance Division has upward revised the Indicative Budget Ceilings (IBC) for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to Rs65 billion from an initial allocation of Rs25 billion for fiscal year 2024-25.

Official documents revealed that the Finance Division issued a letter with the subject “revised Provisional Indicative Budget Ceilings for fiscal year 2024-25 recurrent budget”.

The letter noted that in supersession of Finance Division’s (Budget Wing) letter NoF.2(1)/Budget-11/2024-25/2052, dated 24th May 2024 on the subject cited above.

The revised IBC for FY 2024-25 for recurrent budget is as under: “The IBC for HEC has been revised to Rs65 billion from initial allocation of Rs25 billion for FY 2024-25.”

The division has further asked for preparing the Budget Orders (BOs)/New Items Statements (NISS) in accordance with the above-stated Provisional Indicative Budget Ceiling for fiscal year 2024-25 and submit the same to the Director (Budget Computerization), Budget Wing, Finance Division for entry into SAP system immediately.

The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) had announced to observe a “black day” at all universities of the country in protest against the huge cut in the budget of the HEC.

The HEC had sought Rs126 billion for more than 160 public universities in the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024