The Syndicate of University of Madras on Wednesday approved withdrawing ₹45.6 crore from its corpus fund to pay pension arrears. This move covers retired employees owed a total of ₹95.44 crore for pension, family pension, DCRG, commutation, and leave encashment. The action was taken after the Madras High Court directed the Finance Secretary to explain efforts to clear the arrears. The Syndicate’s special meeting decided to use two matured deposits from the corpus fund, which totals ₹318 crores. Additionally, the state government gave a block grant of ₹20 crore to help meet these payments. Registrar Rita John said, "The government had communicated that it was willing to compensate the university with additionality grant for the loss of interest due to the withdrawal." Last week, ₹6.32 crore was paid to 184 retirees from the university's non-plan general fund. The ₹50.8 crore owed for DCRG and leave encashment will be paid using the corpus withdrawals and the government grant. The ₹38.31 crore commutation portion will be handled individually per retiree choice. The Syndicate also authorized the Vice-Chancellor Convener Committee to use funds from future matured deposits. A committee will be set up to find ways to raise more funds and strengthen the corpus. Between April 2015 and September 2025, 87 teaching staff, 249 non-teaching staff, and 129 family pensioners were awaiting terminal benefits. Faculty and staff groups opposed the corpus withdrawal, fearing it weakens the university’s financial health and may hurt future retirees. The delay in payments was due to audit objections. After court orders in August 2025, 339 pensioners’ records were verified by the Directorate of Audit General, enabling their payments to proceed.