HYDERABAD: Nalsar, a national law university, has been accused of violating labour laws by the Workers Welfare Society, a student-run informal body that advocates for workers’ rights on campus. The society claims that the administration has not paid minimum wages to contract workers for several years, and now that a new tender is in process, workers are being offered only the bare minimum without any compensation for past losses.
According to a bill submitted by the contractor and approved by the university in January 2023, workers receive a wage of Rs 311 per day, from which their provident fund, health insurance, and contractor’s profit are deducted.
When the Workers Welfare Society raised the issue, a committee was formed to give recommendations to the administration. The committee, consisting of two labour law professors, Dr Vasanthi Nimushakavi and Prakhar Ganguly, admitted that workers are being underpaid and highlighted several issues faced by workers. They proposed that workers should receive a wage of at least Rs 600 per day. However, the administration rejected the committee’s recommendation and decided to pay workers Rs 415 per day. Officials claim that the new tender will be approved within two weeks.
“We are very unhappy with the way the workers have been treated. That is why we are proactively trying to help them,” said Dr K. Vidyulatha Reddy, the registrar. “We want to do it in a legally and procedurally correct way.”