THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government's decision to revise the pension of former employees of state universities had come as a relief to over 20,000 pensioners.
But a condition placed by the government, that the universities should bear the additional financial burden arising thereof, may lead to the revised pension disbursal being delayed indefinitely.
In February, pension revision was announced in the government sector but universities were left out.
In the wake of demands from university pensioners, the cabinet took a decision last month to revise their pension as well. Accordingly, the Finance Secretary issued an order applying the revision criteria to university pensioners.
"The pension in respect of university pensioners shall be revised subject to the condition that the expenditure for the implementation of the revision will be met by the university from its own resources," the order said.
The condition placed by the government has irked state universities that are struggling to sustain themselves using their own resources.
"Conventionally, the expenses towards salary and pension are met by the non-plan grant provided by the government which is periodically enhanced with each revision," said the Vice Chancellor of a state university, requesting anonymity.
Majority of the pensioners are from the Universities of Kerala, Calicut and the Kerala Agricultural University.
"Already, state universities are reeling under a severe fund crunch. Distance education courses, that were major sources of revenue, have been badly hit following the uncertainty over the state Open University. Using own resources for pension revision would hamper the development projects of universities," the Vice Chancellor pointed out.
However, Kerala University Syndicate member K H Babjuan said universities have used their own resources to meet such financial commitments in the past as well.
"There have been instances where universities have used their own funds and the government had compensated for it later through its non-plan grants," he said.
Meanwhile, academics point out that the state government's commitment to provide huge funds for the newly set up Sree Narayana Guru Open University and the Digital University is the reason for putting the onus of footing the revised pension bill on the universities.