The University Grants Commission (UGC) was criticised by Tamil Nadu's Higher Education Minister Govi Chezhiaan on Tuesday, December 3, for failing to release Rs 40 crore annually since 2017 to cover the salary costs of guest lecturers hired by state-owned universities.

"We have been continuously asking the commission to release the funds. Till now, it has not released even a single paise," he said, according to DTNext.

He added that the Tamil Nadu State government is still working to pay the guest lecturers to assist the students, which demonstrates the need to pay guest lecturers Rs 50,000 per UGC regulations.

Blaming the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for this predicament, he said that they increased the stipends for guest lecturers only by Rs 5,000 during their ten-year rule.

"They (AIADMK government) increased the salary from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per month — that too was hiked at the end of their regime," he said.

The minister said that once MK Stalin became chief minister of Tamil Nadu when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was elected to power in 2021, the guest lecturers' salaries were immediately increased by Rs 5,000.

He stated that the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department is taking steps to hire extra guest lecturers in addition to employing permanent professors and that the advancement of higher education in the state should be praised rather than criticised for trivial reasons.