The administrative employees of the University of Madras have written to the Registrar that the institution should settle the dues of the staff.
The Madras University Staff Association has cited a recent court judgment that ruled that the Local Fund Audit (LFA) cannot “go into the justification of promotions given by a university”. The verdict delivered by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court ruled that the State universities were governed by their own statutes and had the autonomy to appoint, promote and fix salaries for their staff.
In 2013, the then Higher Education Secretary Apurva Varma had directed all universities to withhold superannuation settlements until the LFA objections were resolved. Thousands of non-teaching employees were affected. Last month, the court ruled that the State government may fund universities but it has no authority to undermine the institutions’ autonomy.
M. Suresh, president of The Madras University Staff Association, recalled that a Government Order issued in 2003 (GO 402) had similarly affected the emoluments of non-teaching staff. “The pay scales for administrative non-teaching staff in universities was fixed on a par with that of Reserve Bank of India employees. A similar situation had unfolded, and the issue was legally settled after which the government fixed our pay scale on a par with the Secretariat staff,” he said.
Settlement had been pending for staff who had retired or had been promoted in the past seven years owing to Higher Education Secretary’s letter, which was contested in court. “Some employees got their gratuities, but some did not get even that money. At least seven or eight of them have died during the intervening years,” he added.
The State government has denied block grants to Madras University for several years citing the LFA objections. A couple of months ago, staff, including those who had retired, staged demonstrations on the university premises demanding their dues. The university had been struggling to pay salaries. As a result, the university had been slipping in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
