Vice-Chancellor NK Lokanath presiding over the Academic Council meeting of the University of Mysore on Wednesday in Mysore. | Photo credit: MA SRIRAM
The century-old University of Mysore is facing a pension disbursement crisis with dwindling resources and no help from the state government.
The university pays pensions of ₹9.5 crore per month to about 1,977 pensioners. She has been facing problems with pension payments for several months and has turned to the government to fully bear these expenses.
The issue came up for discussion at Wednesday’s academic council meeting at Crawford Hall here. Vice-Chancellor NK Lokanath presided over the meeting, which was attended by senior officials of the university and members of the council.
When Vivekananda, MLC, sought to know about the delayed pension payments, the vice-chancellor said the university was facing severe revenue shortfall, adding that it had approached the government for help.
But the Government did not bear the expenditure and the University continued to pay the pensions from its available funds with great difficulty, Mr. Vivekananda said. “With dwindling resources, this cannot continue for long,” he added.
The MLC said he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister and the Higher Education Minister and seek relief for the university, whose jurisdiction has declined with the setting up of new universities in the districts.
The official said that it is extremely difficult for the university to pay pensions with deficit funds and have the responsibility of meeting various other expenses.
It is the third year in a row that the university has faced a revenue shortfall. Declining revenue for 2025–26 resulted in a deficit budget of ₹107.72 crore. Against a projected revenue of ₹295.59 crore in 2025–26, the university’s expenditure for the year is ₹403.31 crore, causing a deficit.
One of the key reasons why the university was facing a serious shortfall in revenue was the deficit of funds to pay pensions to the retired employees, whose number is increasing every year. An amount of ₹ 169.19 crore is spent on salaries, while ₹ 157.54 crore is expenditure on pensions. So far, the government has earmarked ₹50 crore for the payment of pensions.
The university is therefore urging the government to meet the pension expenditure as it has not been able to overcome the deficit and meet the funding. “It will be very difficult for the university to pay pensions in the coming months due to the shortfall in revenue,” the vice-chancellor said.
Published – 15 Oct 2025 20:28 IST
