Despite a senior official’s caution against “extravagant expenditure on fancy offices,” the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) — mandated to educate underprivileged children — spent Rs 247 crore in 2021 to acquire two floors in NBCC’s World Trade Centre in Delhi. It received possession in March 2024 but has never moved in and is now scouting for a tenant, The Indian Express has learnt.
The sum is striking in context. NIOS receives no budgetary support from the Centre. It funds itself entirely through admission and examination fees. According to its last publicly available annual report, for 2022-23, NIOS generated a total income of Rs 288.65 crore that year, of which Rs 183 crore came from admission and exam fees, against total expenditure of Rs 157.89 crore.
Official records show the proposal to buy 61,000 square feet of commercial space, and relocate NIOS headquarters from its current office in Noida to the capital, was discussed and approved at a Finance Committee meeting of the NIOS Society on October 8, 2021, under then Chairperson Prof Saroj Sharma.
NIOS is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry’s own Joint Secretary and Financial Adviser then had cautioned against the move before that meeting. The Joint Secretary had reportedly highlighted the mandate of NIOS to help educate “un(der)privileged, poor children of the society who could not pursue formal education in schools.” And that the revenue earned by NIOS comes mainly from these sections of the society. “It is therefore necessary that NIOS must refrain from making any extravagant expenditure on fancy offices at very costly places,” the JS is learnt to have said.
The committee set those objections aside. Sharma reportedly told the committee that NIOS was empowered to locate its office anywhere in the Union Territory of Delhi and “learners of NIOS face difficulties in reaching NIOS office, as no Regional Centre is located in Delhi.”
Sharma declined to comment when contacted. The JS has since retired.
Story continues below this ad
Those in favour of the purchase also cited the National Education Policy’s emphasis on digital infrastructure, arguing that the “newly constructed building in the said premises will have all modern facilities for the learners for making them at par to other boards.”
The committee further noted that other government bodies and public sector undertakings had established offices in NBCC-designed buildings at Kidwai Nagar and Nauroji Nagar, and that the space would be “allotted as per fixed rate in a transparent manner.” On those grounds, the Finance Committee approved the acquisition, recording that “other members of the Finance Committee have given their consent on the agenda.” An official later said the decision was “not a single person’s decision but unanimously taken by the academic council.”
The cost, however, did not stop at Rs 247 crore. At a meeting on January 13, 2025, held under then Chairperson Pankaj Arora — who held additional charge of NIOS from October 2024 to July 2025 while also serving as chairperson of the National Council for Teacher Education — the Society approved further expenditure: Rs 18.82 lakh as stamp duty and e-registration fee, and Rs 70 lakh as GST on maintenance services. Asked about the spending and the need for the space, Arora said there was “no progress on that front” during his tenure.
By July last year, NIOS had estimated that actually moving in would require a one-time interior development cost of Rs 37 crore, followed by annual recurring expenses of roughly Rs 2.13 crore for maintenance, and Rs 7 lakh in property tax. Faced with that arithmetic, the institution formed a committee to assess the WTC premises and recommend “optimal utilization.”
Story continues below this ad
The committee has since suggested leasing out one floor to reduce the financial burden. When contacted, current NIOS chief Akhilesh Mishra declined to comment. A senior NIOS official, however, said that according to a proposal in the works, one floor will be rented out and the other will be used “as a space for digital schooling, where we will broadcast our classes live, and another part for the ‘Learn One More Bharatiya Bhasha’ initiative.”
