Teachers, non-teaching staff and pensioners across India’s central universities are yet to receive their salaries and pensions for July after the Centre reportedly failed to release the required funds to the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The delay has affected employees and retired personnel at several institutions, disrupting the usual payment cycle under which government employees and pensioners receive their dues on or before the last day of every month.
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Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) officially acknowledged the delay through a circular issued on Friday, informing faculty members, staff and pensioners that the university had not yet received the salary and recurring grants for July through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS).
“It is hereby informed to all concerned that the salary grant and recurring grants for July have not been received through PFMS from the UGC. In view of the non-receipt of the requisite grants, there is likely to be a delay in disbursement of salary and pension for July,” the circular stated.
The university further assured employees that salaries and pensions would be processed and released immediately after the required funds are received from the UGC.
Under the existing funding mechanism, the Ministry of Education releases grants to the UGC, which then issues sanction orders for the disbursement of funds to central universities. Once the funds are sanctioned, they are transferred to employees and pensioners through the Reserve Bank of India into their respective bank accounts.
However, the non-release of grants from the Centre has stalled this process, leaving thousands of university employees and retired staff without their monthly income.
The delay has raised concerns among teaching and non-teaching staff, many of whom depend on timely salary payments to meet routine financial commitments, including loan repayments, rent, household expenses and children’s education costs. Pensioners have also been affected, as many rely solely on their monthly pension to cover healthcare and living expenses.
While JNU is among the universities that have publicly confirmed the issue, the delay is understood to have impacted central universities across the country, as the funding process is centrally administered through the UGC.
University authorities have indicated that the delay is administrative in nature and linked to the pending release of grants rather than any issue at the institutional level.
Employees are now awaiting the release of funds from the Ministry of Education to the UGC so that salaries and pensions can be credited without further delay. As of now, neither the Ministry of Education nor the UGC has officially announced a timeline for the release of the pending July grants.
