MUMBAI: Inaction on the part of the University Grants Commission (UGC) may lead to 25 faculty members from three centres at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) losing their job by March-end. Faculty members from three centres at the TISS — the Nodal Centre of Excellence for Human Rights Education, Rights and Constitutional Governance and Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies and Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies — have been informed through a letter last week, that their last working day could be March 31.
The centres are run on UGC grants, which have not been received for the past couple of years, a faulty said on the condition of anonymity.
The TISS has been following up with the UGC for a grant of over `5.11 crore, said a letter by director S Parasuraman, posted on the institute’s website. The director has gone to Delhi to meet officials at the UGC. If he is able to bring funds, the centres would continue with their operations, another faculty member told New Indian Express.
However, a research fellow from the institute, who was also a former student, said there have been several administrative shortcomings in the institute which might have affected the evaluation of the centres, adversely leading the UGC to think of closing them down.
Another former student of the institute said the issue is not confined to the TISS alone.
The Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies, which had been started by the planning commission in several universities, has been facing the same fate.