UoP fails to utilise Rs246m of HEC grant

HEC demands return of the amount provided for ‘Strengthening of UoP’ programme

PESHAWAR: Owing to poor planning and mismanagement, the University of Peshawar (UoP) has failed to utilise Rs246m of the developmental funds issued by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) over the last seven months.

In the letter dated August 24, the commission has asked the university to reimburse the underutilised amount through a crossed cheque in favour of the HEC’s director-general finance latest by August 30.

The commission had released a grant of Rs510 million to the university, as part of the ‘Strengthening of University of Peshawar’ programme, during the fiscal year 2016-17. Of the released amount, the UoP only spent around Rs264.40m on various projects while the remaining Rs246m remained unused.

In a first: UoP to begin forensic psychology courses

The letter, available with The Express Tribune, said the monitoring report of the project showed that the amount could not be utilised, mainly due to the university’s improper planning and management.

“You will agree that that it takes a lot of effort to get the development funds released from the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance. However, they prove to be futile when these funds are not utilised properly and timely,” the letter said.

It further stated that due to non-utilisation of funds by the universities, the finance ministry had stopped release of Rs11.665 billion to the commission in the last fiscal year 2016-17.

In view of this fact, the matter was discussed in the HEC and it was decided by the commission to withdraw these funds and divert the amount to other fast-moving projects.

The letter also warned the university that in case of noncompliance, the HEC might adjust the amount from the forthcoming installment of the grant.

A senior official of the university, who asked not to be named, said the UoP vice chancellor has issued an explanation in response to the letter. In his response, the VC has accused the interim setup of wasting time on reshuffling and transferring instead of giving importance to developmental schemes.

UoP Public Relation Officer Rafiullah Khan, however, denied having received any such letter.