The Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) in Rajouri is grappling with significant financial challenges, reporting a salary deficit of Rs 13.48 crore for the fiscal year 2025-26. Current estimates indicate that total expenses for this year will reach Rs 45 crore, while revenue is projected to fall short at less than Rs 32 crore.
Official data presented in the assembly highlights that the university”s grant-in-aid from the Jammu and Kashmir government has increased from Rs 22.99 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal year to Rs 34.95 crore in 2024-25, with an additional Rs 21.80 crore released by September 2025. However, the institution faces rising salary costs, estimated at Rs 48.48 crore for the current fiscal year, creating a funding crisis.
A primary factor contributing to the university”s financial distress is the indiscriminate addition of numerous courses without adequate planning. Several departments have reported zero student enrollment, yet still incur costs for buildings, faculty, and administrative staff. This situation results in a complete absence of revenue due to tuition fees while simultaneously creating a substantial outflow in salary payments.
Currently, the university has over 4,800 teaching seats available but has only managed to enroll 2,304 students, leaving approximately 2,506 seats unfilled. For instance, the MA Arabic program has 20 seats but no students enrolled. Although courses in Arabic, Persian, and Islamic Studies were introduced, the lack of students has rendered additional faculty and staff redundant.
In engineering programs, more than 60 percent of seats across various departments remain vacant. The Mechanical Engineering Department has 198 seats for its B Tech course, yet only 29 students have enrolled, leaving 169 seats empty. Similar trends are observed in the Hindi Department, where both the MA course and the Hindi Honours course have reported zero student enrollment.
Some faculty members, speaking anonymously, indicated that many hires were made based on political affiliations rather than academic needs, leading to an unsustainable staffing situation in multiple departments. If this trend continues, there are concerns that the university could collapse under its financial burdens.
Additionally, the university receives CAPEX grants for development projects, with allocations of Rs 4.22 crore in 2022-23, Rs 1.83 crore in 2023-24, and Rs 2.14 crore in 2024-25. For the current fiscal year, the CAPEX grant is set at Rs 95 lakh. However, despite these grants, the university has consistently faced financial shortfalls, with internal revenue contributions plummeting from Rs 79.33 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 7.06 crore in 2024-25.
In response to the financial strain, the government noted that the university had repeatedly solicited the Waqf Board for its annual contribution of Rs 2 crore, which has not been received since October 2019. This lack of support, coupled with dwindling internal revenue, has exacerbated the university”s financial instability. Even if future contributions from the Waqf Board are realized, the university”s fiscal health is expected to remain precarious.
For the 2025-26 fiscal year, the government has approved Rs 35 crore as grant-in-aid specifically for permanent employee salaries. However, with projected salary expenses of Rs 48.48 crore, the university is still looking at a considerable deficit. There is also no designated budget to fill unoccupied teaching and non-teaching positions or to cover operational costs, which forces the institution to rely on what it describes as “meager internal resources.”
Internal revenue, primarily generated from student fees and sales of prospectuses, has seen a steady decline. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, internal revenue was Rs 20 crore, which dropped to Rs 15 crore in 2024-25, and has now fallen sharply to Rs 7 crore.
As of the 2024-25 fiscal year, the university”s income was Rs 28.87 crore, against an expenditure of Rs 51.99 crore, resulting in a shortfall of Rs 21.92 crore. Previous years have shown similar trends of deficit, with Rs 6.18 crore reported in 2023-24 and Rs 2.11 crore in 2022-23. Officials are urging the government to increase grant-in-aid allocations to ensure timely payment of salaries and to sustain academic operations.
Despite these financial challenges, BGSBU continues to operate various academic programs across its campuses in Rajouri, Jammu, and Kishtwar, including engineering, sciences, humanities, and nursing. The Minister responsible for Higher Education has acknowledged the financial difficulties faced by BGSBU and is exploring ways to secure stable funding for its operations. Nevertheless, many officials and political leaders agree that the university”s extensive range of programs, which includes Business Management, Social Sciences, Bio Sciences, Computer Sciences, Information Technology, Arabic, Mathematics, Nursing, and more, has become an ongoing financial burden. Without a reduction in these programs to lessen recurring expenses, the university”s future appears uncertain.
