Employees of several sectors are directly and indirectly hit by the current lockdown imposed for containment of COVID-19 spread, with no exception even for those from the public sector.
University faculty too has to make do with only 50 % of their emoluments during these testing times, but the hardest hit are the guest faculty, also termed as part-time faculty by some universities. Allegations are surfacing that the guest faculties of a few universities are being denied payments during the lockdown period, and those on payments per class basis are not being given classes in order to save on their salaries.
Guest faculty members from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) are complaining that they have been deprived of salaries for the lockdown period, while the regular and contract lecturers are paid. The university has two separate groups even among the guest faculty, one on consolidated monthly pay and another on payment per class. Both groups have not received any payment for the duration since March 15, alleged a lecturer. “The academic year ended on March 15, after which lockdown was imposed. The faculty on consolidated pay of ₹30,000 per month has not received even a penny till now. Besides, though the university is running online classes, all the classes are handed over to the contract lecturers, in order to avoid payment to the guest faculty,” alleged Ramesh (name changed), a faculty member.
Though domain ids were created for the guest faculty too initially for the online classes, later they were disabled, he said. Part-time lecturers of the Kakatiya University allege that they have not been paid even for the classes they conducted. The Kakatiya University Part-Time Lecturers Association is approaching the High Court demanding justice.
“We taught the fourth semester starting from December, and the second semester from January, up to March 14 when holidays were declared. Later, the university has taken a decision not to pay the part-time lecturers for the lockdown periodLet alone lockdown period, we are yet to get payment for the period we have taught,” D. Mahesh, president of the Association said.
Academic almanac
Besides, the university published the academic almanac at the beginning of May, when the syllabus almost came to an end, in which they falsely claimed that classes had begun from January 30, Dr. Mahesh alleged. “Still, they asked us to take online classes in April, for which we were asked to submit screenshots and bills raised from the colleges as proof. During the lockdown, who will issue us bills?” he questions. When sought his version, Administrative Officer of the RGUKT Rajeshwar Rao said a decision was taken to pay the guest faculty during lockdown, but the issue of fixing pay for the faculty who taught on per-class basis is still caught in bureaucracy. It will be fixed in a few days, he said. Kakatiaya University authorities were not available for a comment.
