Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Not in a position to pay UGC rate for guest faculty: State varsities

TIRUCHI, FEBRUARY 06, 2019 00:00 IST

Citing depleted finances, State universities say they are not in a position to implement revised guidelines for enhancement of the rates of honorarium of guest faculty, following the implementation of the seventh pay commission.

The UGC had, last month, sent a communication to registrars of all universities recommending that the honorarium for guest faculty appointed against sanctioned post be enhanced to Rs. 1,500 per lecture subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000 per month.

The UGC had specified that the selection procedure for appointing guest faculty must be the same as those of regularly appointed Assistant Professors, but made it clear that the guest faculty will not be given the benefit of allowances, pension gratuity and leave as admissible to the regular teachers.

However, in the latest advertisement released to invite applications for appointment of a guest lecturer in Biochemistry, Bharathidasan University had specified that the candidate must have the qualifications of SLET/NET or Ph.D., but had mentioned the scale of pay as Rs. 12,000 per month.

Fund crunch

According to university sources, constraint of funds was a major hindering factor in implementing the UGC's latest recommendation on revised honorarium for guest faculty.

State universities are not funded by UGC, and will be in a position to pay guest faculties as per its recommendation only when there is additional funding from the State Government, sources said.

The stand of the State universities is that the current funding from UGC that is confined to specific projects is not adequate for paying guest lecturers the revised amount.

It was to cut down on excess expenditure that Bharathidasan University chose not to renew the services of principals of its 10 constituent colleges, who drew monthly salaries of Rs. 40,000 each.

Since the posts of principals were filled with regular faculties, the university could cut down monthly expenditure to the tune of Rs. 4 lakh per month.

While the aspiration of guest faculties holding the qualification to receive payment as per the latest UGC recommendation is genuine, the implementation hinges on the State Government's readiness to provide extra funding, the sources said.

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