Self-financing centres’ staff may lose jobs

Calicut University authorities cite Govt. order for ending employment contracts; staff dispute claim

Around 300 employees of self-financing institutions directly run by Calicut University are staring at a bleak future with the authorities deciding not to renew their contracts after March 31.

According to K.P. Abdul Azeez, State joint secretary, Self-Financing College Teachers’ and Staff Association (SFCTSA), the varsity is terminating the services of such a large workforce at a time when the national trade unions had just participated in a day-long general strike raising demands such as better minimum wages and more benefits for contract employees.

“The problem lies in the fact that what Calicut University is doing now is likely to be followed by Kerala and Mahatma Gandhi Universities in the future,” Mr. Azeez said. SFCTSA functionaries said that those teaching and non-teaching employees had been working in around 45 study centres of the varsity offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses in engineering, paramedical subjects, and arts and science. They were spread across five districts and their work experience was in the range of five to 20 years. Normally, these persons were appointed on a one-year contract, which got extended later.

The university authorities, meanwhile, claimed that the decision was based on a Government Order (GO) that barred extending the services of temporary staff more than twice. The contract of temporary staff with fewer than three years of service would be extended, they said. Mr. Azeez disputed this claim saying that the order pertained to the staff in educational institutions that receive grant-in-aid from the Government. “Self-financing institutions don’t receive any such funding,” he said.

C.L. Joshi, Registrar, told The Hindu that the issue would be discussed at a meeting of the Syndicate in February. Ahead of that, SFCTSA authorities had been called for talks on January 20, he said.

The SFCTSA on January 6 held protests at various centres. On January 14, a day-night protest has been planned outside the administrative block of the university.

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