Salary being denied, say KVASU staff

Employees of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) staged a sit-in in front of the Vice Chancellor’s office at Pookode on Monday seeking an end to the ‘government action of withholding their monthly salary.’

Employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff, were yet to get their salaries for June, joint agitation committee office-bearers said here on Monday.

Though government had granted Rs.3.75 crore for the university’s administrative expenditure, the Principal Secretary (Finance) was delaying the payment for the past three months, they said.

The alleged conflict between the Principal Secretary and the Vice Chancellor on issues such as winding up of the university liaison office and a research centre in Thiruvananthapuram was the reason, they said.

Liaison office closed

The Principal Secretary was also against the decision of the university governing body to pay salaries to teacher on study leave pursuing Ph.D.s, they said. Though the board of management of the university had accepted the directions of the Secretary and had wound up the liaison office and restructured the study leave programme granted to the teachers, the Finance Department was not ready to take steps to pay salaries, they added.

Smooth functioning

Whatever may be the reason for the clash, it should not affect the smooth functioning of the university, they added.

The organisations including the Kerala Veterinary University Teachers’ Association, Teachers’ Association of the Veterinary University of Kerala, Kerala Veterinary University Employees’ Union, Kerala Veterinary University Employees’ Association, and three unions of permanent labourers decided to launch an indefinite hunger fast in front of the university headquarters from Tuesday till they got their salary, they said.