THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After promising to address the delay in disbursal of remuneration to guest lecturers in colleges across the state, the government has been accused of dragging its feet on the matter.
Last month, the government had assured that a special adalat will be conducted in October to address issues related to many months’ pending payment. However, guest lecturers have complained that no adalat has been scheduled at the deputy director-level even as the month is drawing to a close.
TNIE had reported that majority of the around 3,000 guest lectures in colleges across the state have been left without pay for months due to apathy of the officials in issuing approval orders. In the wake of the report, Higher Education Minister R Bindu had convened a high-level meeting last month to address the issue.
An official of the higher education department said most of the pay related issues have been resolved and only a few are pending. “Only pay issues that have not been rectified at the official level will be taken up. We plan to conduct the adalat after giving proper notice to aggrieved persons,” the official said.
Guest lecturers also complained that no assurances have yet been given for their demand to raise remuneration as per the increased workload. Many guest lecturers were entitled to an extra day’s remuneration per week after certain courses faced increased demand following the introduction of the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) this year.
A guest lecturer is entitled to Rs 1,750 per day with a monthly cap of Rs 43,750. If the actual actual workload of the guest lecturers is taken into account following implementation of FYUGP, most of them will be entitled to an additional Rs 7,000 per month, they pointed out.