Annamalai varsity’s 800 ‘liaison officers’ drawing professor’s pay
Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Oct 7, 2017, 23:24 IST
Disproportionately high number of staff members, and 800 non-teaching staff working as special officers/liaison officers drawing the salary equal to that of assistant professors, are the prime culprits. So much so, the high number of liaison officials and the fancy salary package to them are symptomatic of the administrative and financial mess in the university, say officials in state higher education department.
Tamil Nadu government, which took over the reins of the university in 2013, is unable to add the 800 'officials' to the list of excess staff identified for redeploy in other government departments. The state in April had initiated the process of redeploying 545 surplus teaching and 2,643 non-teaching staff in government colleges, departments and state undertakings.
A senior official of the university said the job profile of these liaison officials was to issue and collect application forms from students and supply them study materials. "However, their pay band is 15,600 (basic pay) + 5400 (grade pay), which is equivalent to that of an assistant professor. Many of them don't have post-graduate degrees and hence can't be redeployed as teaching staff in institutes across the state," the official said. This is one of the major flaws in the recruitment process prior to 2012, he said.
The equivalent post in the state secretariat for these liaison officials is assistant section officer (ASO). But redeployment will create problems, as ASO pay band is 9,300 (basic pay) + 4,600 (grade pay). "The liaison officials will have to take a drastic pay cut," the official said. Such indiscriminate appointments with high pay structure had rendered the unit a loss-making entity within Annamalai University, which accounted for 50% of all distance education students in the state.
In the first phase, the TN government redeployed 881 teaching and 1,871 non-teaching staff to various other government departments in the state. The case of 52 teaching and 327 non-teaching staff is under process, an official said.
Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Oct 7, 2017, 23:24 IST
Chennai: Despite having 2.5 lakh student on its rolls, the beleaguered Annamalai University's institute of distance education (IDE) alone has been incurring an annual loss of Rs 83 crore. While distance education streams in other universities have been a cash cow, in the case of Annamalai university it had become a liability.
Disproportionately high number of staff members, and 800 non-teaching staff working as special officers/liaison officers drawing the salary equal to that of assistant professors, are the prime culprits. So much so, the high number of liaison officials and the fancy salary package to them are symptomatic of the administrative and financial mess in the university, say officials in state higher education department.
Tamil Nadu government, which took over the reins of the university in 2013, is unable to add the 800 'officials' to the list of excess staff identified for redeploy in other government departments. The state in April had initiated the process of redeploying 545 surplus teaching and 2,643 non-teaching staff in government colleges, departments and state undertakings.
A senior official of the university said the job profile of these liaison officials was to issue and collect application forms from students and supply them study materials. "However, their pay band is 15,600 (basic pay) + 5400 (grade pay), which is equivalent to that of an assistant professor. Many of them don't have post-graduate degrees and hence can't be redeployed as teaching staff in institutes across the state," the official said. This is one of the major flaws in the recruitment process prior to 2012, he said.
The equivalent post in the state secretariat for these liaison officials is assistant section officer (ASO). But redeployment will create problems, as ASO pay band is 9,300 (basic pay) + 4,600 (grade pay). "The liaison officials will have to take a drastic pay cut," the official said. Such indiscriminate appointments with high pay structure had rendered the unit a loss-making entity within Annamalai University, which accounted for 50% of all distance education students in the state.
In the first phase, the TN government redeployed 881 teaching and 1,871 non-teaching staff to various other government departments in the state. The case of 52 teaching and 327 non-teaching staff is under process, an official said.
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