Affiliate engineering colleges owe Rs 24 crore to Anna University in library fees

CHENNAI: Several affiliated self-financing engineering colleges of Anna University have failed to pay the subscription fees to access the university’s central library, with the pending dues accumulating to Rs 24 crore.

Affiliated colleges can access the university library's resources through an institutional membership, which requires a subscription fee, and this fee is part of the overall affiliation process. In addition, the Industrial Associateship Scheme (IAS) of Anna University is open to all educational institutions, which can enrol in the scheme on an annual subscription fee of Rs 25,000.

The pending library subscription fee was disclosed at a recent syndicate meeting of the university, the highest decision-making body.

A senior professor, requesting anonymity, said the syndicate meeting Anna University library director was called upon to know the status of payment of subscriptions by self-financing engineering colleges. "It was informed that only about Rs six crore was collected from the few self-financing engineering colleges against the estimated outlay of Rs 30 crore," he added.

He said the syndicate suggested the director, Anna University library, to present an agenda in the ensuing syndicate meeting towards seeking directions to collect the subscription fees with respect to Anna University E Resource Consortium.

According to the Anna University official, the pending subscription fees of Rs 24 crore will soon be collected by the authorities concerned by sending circulars to the institutions.

He said the Higher Education Department also suggested that the university, besides yielding revenue, should be judicious in their spending and should identify avenues to reduce expenditure.