Misuse of “College Local Funds” Govt issues fresh rules to clip wings of principals, asks immediate compliance

Jammu : In order to check misuse and misutilization of “College Local Funds” by the Principals , the government has issued new rules and asked the competent authorities to ensure compliance of fresh guidelines with regard to incurring expenditure.

The new rules have been issued following complaints of authorities indulging in unchecked , unnecessary expenditure on engagement of contractual staff.

Sources said a number of cases from various colleges in cities were reported where the authorities had arbitrarily engaged the casual staff against contractual posts.

At a number of places the engagement of staff was uncalled for as the colleges already have their own permanent staff.

However, since the permanent staff played truancy and did not attend to their works regularly, outsourcing contractual staff was shown to be a necessary move, sources said.

The adjustments of contractual staff in good number was done to appease the political bosses and bureaucrats and it was their kith and kin mostly who were taken in various colleges sources said most of the appointees , no matter as temporary staff, belonged to well to do families and their entry as daily wagers was done in a purported manner so as to get them permanent later over a period of time as has been seen in most of the government institutions and even banks in the state during popular governments.

Sources further added that even after payment of salaries from College fund, these contractual employees have seldom attended to their prescribed duties regularly and in a way it was all a free luxury , so to say money for doing nothing to them.

However, after these complaints of misuse of College Funds , not only were such appointments banned by Finance Department immediately, the government has also come with these rules through a proper order issued last month through order no. LG-JK(HE)of 2022 dated 20-04-2022. Pertinently , College Local Funds are the funds which includes all payments other than tuition fees which are paid by the students at the time of admission as per guidelines of Higher Education Department.

Now in the fresh rules through the order, it has been directed that authorities will not indulge in unnecessary expenditure arbitrarily as was seen in (mis)utilizing the funds on salaries, other expenditures of casual staff. Instead, they have been asked to get this credited into Central Pool Fund Account maintained by the J&K Bank.

More importantly, in the new rules the government has made it emphatically clear that Principals are not authorized to utilise any amount of pool fund. In case of any deviation on this account shall be viewed seriously and the said Principal shall be held personally held responsible, the order says.

Updated On 5/14/2022 11:25:21 AM