Funds crunch, shutdown threat dog Aligarh Muslim University centre

Malappuram: There is a fear of  fund crunch at the Malappuram AMU centre in the wake of the threats raised by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani to shut down Aligarh Muslim University centres in the country. The centre has been in the doldrums for the past few months over  the release of funds  from Rs 140 crore  sanctioned by the UPA government in 2013. Ms Irani had refused  the demand for  more funds  made by a delegation from Kerala led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Mr E.T Muhammed Basheer MP, who  attended the meetings confirmed her stand. A Delhi-based fortnightly had revealed the details of the two meetings that had taken place in  Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram in January.

Only Rs 60 crore was  released from the earlier sanctioned amount for the  Malappuram centre. It  has been demanding more for developments in accordance with the plans already made. However, its director Dr. Abdul Azeez has denied a possible fund crunch. Mr. Azeez had not attended both the meetings.

But sources say that administrative lapses of the university might have led to such a threat from the central government. They say that the university authorities in Aligarh had failed to submit the utilisation certificates of funds to the government in time. “Without proper utilization certificates the government won’t release further funds. The apathy of the university authorities in Aligarh has hit the centre badly,” they say. It is believed that the university only forwarded the details of fund utilization last month, they added.