School grant tangled in red tape

New Delhi, July 22: A special grant of Rs 10 crore for the Madras School of Economics, announced in the Union budget, is caught in red tape. The human resource development ministry has expressed inability to release the funds till the school, which is considered a centre of excellence in post-graduate education in economics, is recognised by the University Grants Commission as eligible for grants. According to current practice, the HRD ministry does not release funds to any private institution. However, the UGC provides grants to private institutions if they are covered under Sections 2(f) and 12(B) of the UGC Act, which recognise them as eligible for the grants. An institution needs to submit a proposal to the UGC to be considered under these two sections. The UGC then sends an inspection committee, which reports back whether the institution should be given funds. On the basis of the report of the expert committee, the UGC takes a decision. All government universities and colleges and a few hundred private institutions are covered under Sections 2(f) and 12(B). The Madras school, which was started in 1995 as a privately funded institution, is not. In his budget speech, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced a special grant of Rs 10 crore to the school, whose chairperson C. Rangarajan also heads the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. The school had earlier submitted a proposal for funds to the finance ministry. “The HRD ministry has asked the institute to first get itself included under the specific sections under the UGC Act. Then grants would be given,” an HRD ministry official said. It takes nearly six months for the UGC to process applications for inclusion under Sections 2(f) and 12(B). The school, which plans to spend Rs 5 crore for expansion and put the remaining amount in its corpus funds, will therefore have to wait at least six months for the money. The HRD ministry has also written to the finance ministry to consider eligibility before announcing special grants in the future. “It is requested that the eligibility or otherwise of such institutions which are proposed to be awarded with special grants may be considered before recommending such proposals,” said an office memorandum sent on Wednesday.