Times of India: Mumbai: Thursday, 21 August 2014.
Mumbai University budgets lakhs of rupees for
examination work every year, but it never really ends up spending the entire
amount.
An RTI Act query reveals that the university
over-budgets exam funds every year. The commerce stream, with the largest
population of students, has the highest sum budgeted at Rs 1.78 crore in 2013-14, while fine arts has the lowest at Rs 3.56 lakh.
RTI activist Vihar Durve, who had filed the query,
said there was no scientific reason for the allocation of funds. For instance,
he said, Rs 1.26 crore was set aside for commerce in 2012, but the stream could spend
merely Rs 73.4 lakh. "Yet next year, the university's finance department budgeted
for Rs 1.78 crore," he added. Similarly, the budget went up for the science faculty
as well.
Experts feel that fewer evaluators turning up for
assessment could be a reason behind the exam section not being able to spend
the budgeted sum. "One often feels that the exam department suffers from
shortage of funds and that is probably why it is afflicted with glitches
plaguing the university. But the real story is different. Despite funds, the
officials are not modernizing the processes," said a former dean.
The funds remaining unutilized notwithstanding,
university officials feel it is better to set aside a higher budget estimate
than falling short. "These are rough estimates. It is not essential that
all the money that is budgeted for is spent. If there is not enough money, we
have to ask for more funds and that process could pause some plans," said
Dinesh Bhonde, controller of exams.
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