BELAGAVI: Amid the opposition BJP’s demand to the government to come out with a White Paper on the state’s finances, the has knocked on the doors of the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) seeking funds, with an eye on the university’s Rs 610 crore fund.
Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh has written a letter to VTU VC Prof. Vidyashankar seeking Rs 250 crore out of the Rs 610 crore corpus belonging to VTU for the development of the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) in Bengaluru, which is under government control. The government has not given any grant to VTU for many years and the request for funds has been politely rejected by the VTU governing body.
In 2014, the Income Tax Department had raided VTU and seized Rs 400 crore citing unpaid taxes as 12A application had not been submitted to avail exemption. Government educational institutions submitting 12-A application to IT department can avail tax exemption.
The VTU got Rs 610 crore with interest after giving documents to the I-T department. It still is supposed to get Rs 90 crore more from the Income Tax Department. Out of the Rs 610 crore, Rs 500 crore money has been fixed deposited by VTU Vice Chancellor Prof Vidyashankar. The plan is to use the interest earned on the deposit for staff salaries after next 10 years. The VC has planned to achieve economic self-reliance even if government does not give salary.
