Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) College on Alagarkoil Road here has initiated steps to terminate the employment of 31 teaching assistants, working on consolidated pay, following an order by the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court earlier this year.
However, a section of faculty members has questioned the timing of the decision and the college and university administration’s inability to amicably sort out the grievances of P. Raghupathy, a former guest lecturer, who had moved the High Court.
Mr. Raghupathy had moved the court in 2012 alleging that stipulated procedures were not followed while issuing notification for the recruitment of these teaching assistants. He had also alleged in his petition that the college was trying to remove him from the post of guest lecturer.
While the court provided an interim injunction in 2012 restraining the college and MKU authorities from ousting Mr. Raghupathy, it delivered the final order earlier this year quashing the job notification, thereby effectively cancelling the recruitment of the 31 teaching assistants.
P. Murugesan, secretary of MKU College unit of Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Associations (MUTA), said that the college administration had since last year stopped allocating classes to Mr. Raghupathy, who, as a guest lecturer, got paid for the number of hours he handled.
“Despite repeated protests and attempts by Mr. Raghupathy and MUTA, the college refused to take him back,” he said. “I wanted myself to be reinstated. Had that been done, I would not have pursued the case,” Mr. Raghupathy told The Hindu .
Mr. Murugesan also raised concern about the timing of the decision. “If the college wanted to follow the orders, it should have done it soon after the judgment and should have completed fresh recruitment now. But the decision to terminate the employment in the beginning of the academic year will not only spoil the career of the staff but also affect the students as the college is already short staffed,” he said.
When contacted, a senior official from the university, however, said that they took steps to settle the grievances of Mr. Raghupathy but he did not cooperate. “Even after the judgment, we did not act immediately as we wanted to settle the issue amicably with Mr. Raghupathy,” he said.
He added that the college took the extreme decision of terminating the employment only after Mr. Raghupathy issued a letter earlier this month threatening to file a contempt of court petition against the college for not following the order.
