Fifty-eight guest faculty of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, whose recruitment at the start of 2023-24 academic year by the varsity has not been endorsed by the Higher Education Department as yet, are not certain till date about receiving their salary for March along with the withheld remuneration for January and February.
The Secretary of Higher Education Department had instructed the university to withhold salary payment at the start of this year, apparently questioning why the university had appointed the faculty without the approval of Syndicate. The line of thinking of the Higher Education Department is that the Syndicate decision was necessary prior to acceptance by the finance committee, according to university sources.
However, appointment of guest faculty has always been on the basis of approval by the dean committees, and the Higher Education secretaries had, in the past, approved the procedure. The appointment of about 60 guest faculty made in 2022-23 were also through this procedure, university sources confirmed.
The 58 guest faculty, who are qualified as per the UGC norms with Ph.D. and NETS/SET qualifications, continue to work without salary. Their services are considered vital since retirement vacancies have not been filled since 2016. The university offers as many as 57 programmes through 38 departments.
Senior professors in the university, in general, opine that it was unfair to make the 58 guest faculty suffer for no fault of theirs.
“Now that Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi is back in the saddle, we expect the ministry to settle the issue at the earliest in right earnest,” one of the affected guest lecturers said.
