By The Hindu Bureau
Copyright thehindu
Members of Madurai Kamaraj University Colleges and Constituent Colleges Guest Lecturers Association putting forward a slew of demands have announced a protest in the break hours for seven days starting from Friday.
M. Vellaiyan, president of the association, said that about 90 guest lecturers of the MKU college in Tallakulam, despite receiving the order from University Grants Commission for a monthly salary of ₹57,500, were still receiving only ₹25,000 as monthly salary.
The act of the college not only went against the UGC order but also against the very basic rights of the teachers, he added.
When the regular staff members under the university had been receiving salary as per the UGC norms, why the administration discriminated only the guest lecturers, he asked.
The MKU college administration, which failed to pay the employer’s contribution to the Employees’ Provident Fund for over 17 months, was slapped with a fine of about ₹36 lakh, Mr. Vellaiyan alleged.
“Though the EPF amount from the employee’s salary was paid, the employer part was not paid. Despite the EPF office issuing notice and slapping fine, the college administration seems not to be paying attention to the problem,” he said.
The fine that should to be paid to the EPF would not just be on the college itself, but the employees would have to bear it in some way, he noted.
Claiming that the hourly basis staff were not paid as per the university order, he said, it had been more than six months since the university administration passed a circular to increase the payment for hourly basis staff to ₹300.
“When they had received ₹200 for several years, the ₹100 hike has still not come into effect,” he said.
Another issue he raised was the college administration demanding students to pay the college fee through Demand Draft.
“When all the colleges have moved to online payment method, the MKU college still sticks with the DD payment. This troubles the students in getting their payment made on time. Due to the delay, many are facing fines from the administration,” he said.
The instruction from the Higher Education Department to the college administration to take up the online method for fee payment seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, Mr. Vellaiyan added.
Other basic demands like toilet facilities for staff and teachers on the college premises were also raised during the protest.
