VARANASI: IIT (BHU) issued revised administrative and financial powers rules on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, taking effect immediately for its campus in the Lanka area. The order identifies who can approve expenditure, student refunds, scholarship matters and travel, giving students, researchers and employees a new reference when preparing requests for the institute's offices.
For students, the practical distinction is between different kinds of approval. The Registrar has authority over caution money and fee refunds under existing institute norms, while the Dean of Academic Affairs handles specified research scholarship and thesis matters. The document sets out the approving offices; it does not announce a new scholarship amount or an automatic entitlement to a refund.
Applicants should identify the relevant item in the November 3 order before routing a financial request through their department. A sanction must also have the required funds behind it. The rules expressly prevent officials from incurring expenditure or accepting a financial liability without prior approval from the competent authority.
What changes under the order
The Registrar's covering letter says the rules supersede the institute's July 11, 2019 notice and subsequent amendments. It cites Finance Committee resolution 23.3 and Board of Governors resolution 25.3, both dated September 29, 2026. The institute's official news listing dates publication of the general financial powers document to November 3.
The framework separates approval of the annual budget from spending within it. The Board of Governors retains full powers over the institute's annual budget and release of annual audited financial statements. The Director has full powers to allocate and reappropriate funds within the budget approved by the board.
For expenditure sanctions, the schedule gives the Registrar and departmental or school heads a limit of Rs 10 lakh, with an advance approval limit of Rs 2 lakh. The Dean of Research and Development has a Rs 50 lakh expenditure limit and Rs 10 lakh advance limit for the specified research, consultancy and continuing education matters within already approved grants. These are approval ceilings, not allocations of fresh money.
The rules also distinguish a spending sanction from later stages of a purchase. Separate entries cover the estimated purchase price, purchase indents, orders, contract signing and confirmation of satisfactory delivery. A person or office involved at one stage should therefore consult the relevant entry rather than assume that the same authority applies throughout.
What students and researchers should do
The scholarship section assigns the Dean of Academic Affairs full powers over M.S. and Ph.D. thesis evaluation and viva voce matters, student thesis, book and contingency grants, and extensions of M.S. or Ph.D. scholarships. It places refund of caution money and withdrawal of fees with the Registrar.
Monthly stipend payments follow the expenditure sanctioning arrangements and the separate authority for signing cheques or bank advices. An academic approval and the act of releasing payment are therefore distinct steps in the schedule. Students should use the relevant approval route when asking their department about a pending claim.
Domestic travel has its own division of responsibility. Departmental or school heads and the concerned coordinator approve specified student tours and research scholar travel from departmental travel funds, subject to the rules. Travel connected with external examiners, Ph.D. vivas and thesis evaluation falls to the Dean of Academic Affairs. The Director has full powers for overseas travel in cases other than the Director's own travel, which goes to the board's chairperson.
Funds, audit and the life of a sanction
A sanction normally lapses after 12 months unless renewed, but a shorter validity stated in the sanction or the end of a relevant financial year can apply first. Where approval precedes receipt of a grant, the order must state that expenditure depends on receipt or disbursement of that money.
Delegations generally operate per occasion. Proposals cannot be split to avoid a higher approval level, and an official cannot pass delegated powers onwards without specific authorisation. The framework also says prevailing laws and original statutory instructions take precedence where there is a conflict or ambiguity.
Internal audit receives full powers for preaudit of purchase proposals valued at Rs 5 lakh or more. The schedule also covers preaudit of pay fixation and retirement or terminal benefits. Its final provisions expand the research unit's administrative remit to continuing education, conferences, seminars, outreach and international relations, and rename it Research, Innovation and Strategic Engagement, or RISE.
For related campus background, see our reports on the postgraduate grievance committee, the equal opportunity cell and earlier research recruitment notices. Each concerns a separate decision; the November 3 document is the reference for the financial approval routes described here.
