For the first time in its 167-year history, the University of Madras will not pay salaires to its employees on the first day of the month. A university official said the institution would pay the employees by Saturday.
The University, an affiliating body for 136 colleges in the three districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, is mired in financial difficulties as the Income Tax department has demanded ₹424 crore towards IT dues, pending for the years 2017-18 to 2020-21.
On February 4, the IT department froze the university’s bank accounts, including 37 fixed deposits, embarrassing the institution as it could not honour the dozens of cheques it had issued. The university does not have a Vice-Chancellor either and administration is done by a four-member committee headed by the higher education secretary.
