KARACHI: The Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) has admitted before the Pakistan Information Commission the presence of substantial amount of money in its pension and General Provident (GP) funds, contradicting its earlier claims of`financial constraints` that made it `unable` to pay pensions to retirees who have long been protesting for their dues.

As the details shared by the varsity came out on Feb 17, the affected retired professors and employees again staged a protest outside the FUUAST vice chancellor`s office on Tuesday and demanded their dues.

In an official response submitted to the Information Commission, the university has admitted that it currently holds Rs670 million in the pension fund, while Rs450 million from the GP Fund has been invested across multiple banks.

The details came in response to apetition filed in the Information Commission against the university by Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan, a retired associate professor and convener of the Committee for Retired Teachers and Non-Teaching Staff at FUUAST.

Speaking to Dawn, Dr Khan said he had submitted the complaint around six months ago. `The university officials took that long and they still didn`t want to show the details but the commission compelled them to do so,`he said.

He said he had submitted that the university held surplus funds exceeding several hundred million rupees but the amount had been invested in a private bank to earn profits and theretirees were not being given pension because the university claimed a paucity of funds.

He also said that the Federal Ombudsman had last year directed the VC to use the deposited funds for paying the pensions and dues of the retired employees,but the orderswereignored.

`The university`s claims have now been officially proven false. They have admitted to all that amount but the details are still misleading. They have hidden the details of where the interest of all that amount, which had been invested in banks, went. They haven`t shared details of where it was spent.

`The amount has been misused by university officials for personal bene-fits. And therefore, an inquiry should be conducted against them. We also demand that an independent audit of the university`s pension and GP funds and urge authorities to implement the Federal Ombudsman`s ruling for immediate clearance of all pending dues from these funds,` he demanded.

He also said that the audit should not be conducted by the Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) because he feared `it would not be fair`.

Highlighting the financial distress being faced by the retirees, Dr Khan said they were struggling with a number of issues because of non-payment of the dues.