NEWS TODAY 14.01.2024

 

Central University Of Kerala Hiring Vice-Chancellor, Salary ₹ 2.10 Lakh

Central University Of Kerala Hiring Vice-Chancellor, Salary ₹ 2.10 Lakh

Central University Of Kerala Recruitment 2024: The monthly salary for the role is fixed at ₹ 2,10,000, along with a special allowance of ₹ 11,250 and other standard allowances.

Jobs Edited by Rahul Kumar Updated: January 14, 2024 12:43 pm IST

CU Kerala Vice-Chancellor Appointment: Applicants must not exceed 65 years of age.

New Delhi:

The Ministry of Education has issued a notification for the appointment of a vice-chancellor at the Central University of Kerala, Kasargod. The selection will be made from a list of recommended candidates under the Central Universities Act, 2009.

Applicants must not exceed 65 years of age. The monthly salary for the role is fixed at ₹ 2,10,000, along with a special allowance of ₹ 11,250 and other standard allowances.

The detailed advertisement and application format can be accessed on the websites of the ministry and the university. Interested individuals must submit their applications in the prescribed format by registered/speed post to the Director (CU-III), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Room No.426, 'C' Wing, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001, within 30 days from the publication date of the advertisement.

On the academic front, the university has currently invited applications for various postgraduate programmes. The deadline for application submission is January 24, 2024.

Established in October 2009, the university, located at Thejaswini Hills in Periye, Kasaragod, covers 310 acres of land allotted by the Government of Kerala in 2012.

Post a commentIt commenced with 17 students in two postgraduate programs and currently offers 27 postgraduate and 22 research programmes, catering to around 2,500 students. The permanent campus, with a built-up area of 6,58,400 Sq Ft, boasts additional departments in Thiruvalla and Trivandrum offering specialised programmes.

Gratuity Calculated On Last Drawn Salary At Time Of Final Resignation If Employee Transferred Among Institutes Of Same Management: Bombay HC

Gratuity Calculated On Last Drawn Salary At Time Of Final Resignation If Employee Transferred Among Institutes Of Same Management: Bombay HC

Amisha Shrivastava

13 Jan 2024 5:20 PM

The court held that there would be no bifurcation of the gratuity amount based on last drawn salary in individual spells of service in the distinct institutes.

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The Bombay High Court held recently that when an employee is transferred from one institute to another of the same management with continuity in service, gratuity will be calculated on the basis of last drawn salary at the time of final cessation of service.

Justice Sandeep V Marne held that there would be no bifurcation of the gratuity amount based on last drawn salary in individual spells of service in the distinct institutes.

The court dismissed four writ petitions filed by employers challenging the entitlement to gratuity of an employee who was transferred Terna Polytechnic, Navi Mumbai to Terna Engineering College, Navi Mumbai, and finally resigned from the latter.

“Once it is held that the two spells of services in Terna Polytechnic and Terna Engineering College are interconnected, cessation of service for the purpose of payment of gratuity under Section 4 of the Gratuity Act would occur on 21 July 2011 when Respondent resigned from the services of Terna Engineering College…There is nothing on record placed to prove that there was termination/cessation of services with Terna Polytechnic on account of resignation from services. Thus Respondent is entitled to gratuity on the basis of last wages drawn as on 21 July 2011 from Terna Engineering College in respect of his entire service from 17 September 1992 to 21 July 2011”, the court held.

The respondent Ravi Bhadrappa Randale served as a lecturer in Terna Polytechnic from September 17, 1992, to June 30, 2004, and subsequently joined Terna Engineering College on July 1, 2004, continuing until his resignation on July 21, 2011.

Randale filed an application for gratuity as he had not been paid for his services in both institutions. The Controlling Authority allowed the application partly and directed Terna Polytechnic and Terna Engineering College to pay separate amounts of gratuity. All the parties challenged the quantification of gratuity.

The Appellate Authority dismissed the appeals filed by Terna Polytechnic and Terna Engineering College and allowed Randale's appeal. It directed the Controlling Authority to determine the last drawn wages based on the VI Pay Commission scale.

Subsequently, the Controlling Authority computed the gratuity based on the last drawn wages of Randale at Terna Engineering College. It once again bifurcated the amount between the two institutes and imposed simple interest at the rate of 18 percent per annum with effect from July 21, 2011, till payment of the entire amount.

The Appellate Authority partly allowed further appeal by all parties, determining a higher last drawn salary and increasing the gratuity amount as well as bifurcating it among the two institutes, but reducing the interest rate to 10 percent per annum.

Thus, Terna approached the high court. The two educational institutions, owned by Terna Public Charitable Trust, argued for a division of gratuity payments based on separate services, while Randale pressed for a unified calculation considering the entirety of his employment.

The petitioners contended that the services in the two institutions should not be clubbed together for calculating gratuity. They argued that there was no continuity between the two services and that the last last pay drawn in Terna Polytechnic as of June 30, 2004, should be considered for the calculation of the amount to be paid by it.

The court relied on Section 2-A of the Gratuity Act, defining "continuous service," and noted that while the petitioners claimed to be distinct legal entities, there was no evidence of a fresh recruitment process when Randale transitioned from one to the other. The relieving letter and the absence of a gap between the spells of service established the continuity of employment, the court observed.

Thus, the court held that there was connectivity in the two spells of service, leading to a continuous period of employment from September 17, 1992, to July 21, 2011. Therefore, the court determined that the gratuity should be based on the last drawn wages as of July 21, 2011, from Terna Engineering College.

The court acknowledged an error in bifurcating the gratuity amount between Terna Polytechnic and Terna Engineering College but deemed it inconsequential given the common management of both institutions. Since there was continuity in service with the same management, the court held that only Terna Engineering College should be directed to pay the entire gratuity amount.

The court dismissed the writ petitions and held that Randale is entitled to withdraw the entire amount of gratuity deposited with the Appellate Authority and the court, along with accrued interest.

Case no. – Writ Petition No. 11864 of 2019

Case Title – M/s. Terna Polytechnic v. Ravi Bhadrappa Randale and connected cases

UGC delists Meghalaya Techno Global University, details here

UGC delists Meghalaya Techno Global University, details here

TOI Education | Jan 12, 2024, 03.10 PM IST

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has removed the name of Techno Global University, Meghalaya from the list of recognised universities. It is speculated that the the decision of UGC is based on the state education department's recommendation to remove the university as it does not exist.

Techno Global University (TGU) was established as a state private university and included in the UGC's list in January 2013, according to the UGC. The government of Meghalaya had set up the university to provide various courses, spanning physical sciences, life sciences, technology, medical science, management, humanities, and more. These courses were sponsored by Techno India, Kolkata, West Bengal.

However, in a turn of events, the government of Meghalaya, through a letter dated 27.09.2022, recommended the removal of TGU from the UGC list, citing its non-existence. The UGC notice explained that TGU, as per its website, had not initiated any academic activities since its inception and had never issued any certificates, degrees, or marksheets. The university also clarified that it had not authorized any person or institution to act on its behalf.

Upon checking the official website of the TGU Meghalaya (technoglobaluniversity.com), a statement appears on the page, stating "Techno Global University shillong, has never started any academic activity since inception. We have never issued any marksheet, certificate and degree to any person. We have also never authorised any person or institution to act on behalf of us."

In response to these developments, the UGC subsequently removed the name of Techno Global University, Shillong, Meghalaya, from its list of recognized universities. The state government, in 2019, had enacted an amendment act, specifying that decisions affecting the university's closure, degree cancellations, admission stoppage, or any matter concerning the State Government's interests would be made by the Visitor after consulting with the State Government.

IOB hikes rates on rupee retail term deposits

IOB hikes rates on rupee retail term deposits

Updated - January 12, 2024 at 06:35 PM. | Chennai

Now, among all public sector banks, IOB is offering the highest interest rates on rupee retail term deposit for 1 year to less than two years’ period

BY OUR BUREAU

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has increased the interest rates on rupees retail term deposits up to 80 bps effective from January 15, 2024.

Now, among all public sector banks, IOB is offering the highest interest rates on rupee retail term deposit for 1 year to less than two years’ period, said a statement.

Depositors will get an interest rate of up to 7.65 per cent for the fresh term deposit opened for 1 year to less than 2 years’ period with IOB.

Aadhaar-based biometric system hints at severe staff crunch in medical colleges

Aadhaar-based biometric system hints at severe staff crunch in medical colleges

Shortage of faculty has become acute with sharp increase in medical seats

Written by Anonna Dutt

New Delhi | Updated: January 14, 2024 07:28 IST

With problems of ghost faculty or faculty being transferred between colleges during NMC inspections, the apex medical education regulator has said they will depend more on the Aadhaar-based system to ensure year-round availability of faculty members in the medical colleges.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) last month sent notices to nearly half of the medical colleges in India for failing to maintain at least 75% attendance of faculty members over a three-month period, with states that have low density of medical colleges reporting some of the highest shortfall in attendance.

Sources in the apex medical education regulator said the shortage in attendance reported on the online Aadhaar-based biometric system is most likely because of shortage in faculty itself.

“It has been made mandatory for faculty members to mark the attendance online. While the provisions were there since 2020, it started being enforced last year onwards. If the colleges had faculty, why would they not mark the attendance. Almost all the shortfall in attendance is because the colleges do not have requisite faculty members,” said the official.

If there is an actual shortfall in the number of faculty members, colleges will face a tough time fulfilling the deficiency.

“All the medical colleges are hereby informed that they must…fulfill the requirements accordingly, at their earliest. In the absence of these requirements or deficiency in any of the fields…admissions for the Academic Year 2024-25 shall not be allowed,” the NMC notice read.

This is the second year in a row that NMC has sent a slew of notices to hundreds of colleges. However, all but nine private colleges were granted permission to admit students after appeal. While these nine medical colleges still figure on the list of colleges with deficiencies, according to another NMC member, other colleges which were permitted to take in students last year also didn’t fulfill the requirements.

“Most of the colleges were allowed to admit students on appeal. Otherwise, the entire medical education sector would have collapsed. There is no government college in the country where the deficiency is less than 25% to 30% – NMC provisions allow only for a shortfall of 10% – meaning these colleges should technically be closed. The situation is worse in state medical colleges,” said an NMC member.

States with deficiencies

In states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab where the density of medical colleges continue to remain low, notices were sent to more than half the existing colleges. The highest proportion was in Uttar Pradesh where 56 of the 68 medical colleges were sent notices. Uttar Pradesh was also the state where several medical colleges did not have attendance for almost the entire staff.

In Madhya Pradesh, 20 of the 27 medical colleges, including reputable government medical colleges such as Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur, were sent notices. In Jharkhand, six of the nine medical colleges were sent notices and in Punjab eight of the 12 were.

More than half the colleges were sent notices even in states such as Karnataka and Kerala that have a high density of medical colleges.

Shortfall in government, non-clinical departments

There were almost similar numbers of government and private medical colleges that were sent notices, however, the deficiencies were more pervasive in the government colleges, according to the analysis of data from 32 of these colleges at random. Most of the deficiencies were also seen in non-clinical departments such as anatomy, pharmacology, and forensic medicine.

One of the reasons the government allowed zero percentile for admission to postgraduate courses this year was to ensure that students take up these non-clinical subjects and become professors later. There were also deficiencies in clinical departments such as dermatology and radio-diagnosis. According to experts, recruiting to radiology has always been a problem for medical colleges, as people prefer practicing rather than becoming a professor.

Gaining and retaining faculty

The shortage of faculty members has become acute with the sharp increase in medical seats – the number of MBBS seats has almost doubled over the last decade. A doctor, who has served as a dean in a government medical college as well as a VC in a private one, said, “The shortage is more severe in the government system because several of the rules are very restrictive. There is a need to free up say general duty doctors and medical officers for the post of professors. There is a need to increase the age of retirement or upper age limit for various posts in the interim. Changing such rules will allow for more doctors to come into the newly opened medical colleges.”

Citing an example, the doctor said that since 2013 – around the same time when the number of colleges started increasing – there has been a requirement for professors to have published papers. Most clinical practitioners might not be able to fulfill this requirement.

The doctor said: “The disparity in pay, say between a state medical college and an AIIMS in the same state, leads to some of the colleges being left without any faculty. At present, the salary at AIIMS is nearly double of what many state government’s pay. This leads to a severe shortage in these state medical colleges.”

With problems of ghost faculty or faculty being transferred between colleges during NMC inspections, the apex medical education regulator has said they will depend more on the Aadhaar-based system to ensure year-round availability of faculty members in the medical colleges.

“The plan is to completely switch to the online system – with data from the cameras and hospital management system – ensuring proper work throughout the year. Physical inspections would need to be conducted only when these requirements are not fulfilled or when there is a complaint. But, this will take some time,” said the first official quoted.