HC puts on hold edu dept’s order to freeze bank accounts of varsities

The Patna High Court on Friday put in abeyance the controversial order of Bihar’s education department order to freeze bank accounts of all the state universities, which had led to stoppage of salary payment to thousands of teachers and employees and pension to the retired staff, besides affecting exams and other routine activities. Patna High Court Hearing a bunch of petitions filed by the Magadh Universiry and other state universities against the department’s order earlier this year to freeze bank accounts, the bench of Justice Anjani Kumar Sharan put the freeze order in abeyance till further order, clearing the decks for salary and pension payment. “In course of arguments, advocate general and additional solicitor general jointly proposed that a meeting of all the VCs along with registrars, exam controllers and financial advisors, and officials of the department of education, government of Bihar, including the additional chief secretary, may take place at a neutral venue on May 6 at Maurya Hotel, Patna, and the expenses of the meeting will be borne by the state government. The education department, led by additional chief secretary K K Pathak, has been calling vice chancellors and other senior officials of state universities for meetings to discuss the functioning of varsities, while the Raj Bhawan has repeatedly refused permission to them to attend these meetings on the plea that an official could not call for such a meeting as per protocol.