MADURAI: The Administrative Staff Association (ASA) of MKU will stage a continuous protest from February 13 against Vice Chancellor J Kumar's decision of refixing, redesignating and recovering the salaries of the varsity staff. In a letter to Kumar, ASA president P Murugan, secretary K Sundaramoorthi and treasurer S Muthiah said that it is learnt that the syndicate has resolved to refix the salary and recover the excess pay from the staff at its meeting held on 22 March, 2022.
"The resolution is contradicting the resolution, dated March 3, 2018 and finance committee resolution, dated February 2, 2018, where the existing scales of pay for all cadres are approved as per G.O. 303. The current scale of pay has been fixed only with the due approval of appropriate statutory bodies including the finance committee, syndicate and senate," they said, requesting Kumar to review the syndicate resolution dated on March 22, 2022.
Speaking to TNIE, Muthiah said if the syndicate resolution is implemented, nearly 260 administrative staff will face financial loss, starting from Rs 10,000. "Nearly 150 pensioners will face challenges. All the salaries and promotions were fixed as approved by the Tamil Nadu Government," he said.
The ASA is planning to stage protests on February 13, 14 and 15 in front of the Kamaraj statue during the lunch break. On February 20 and 21, members will come with black flags to work. On February 23, a one-day hunger will be organised, added sources. Responding to the issue, Vice Chancellor J Kumar said, "Only very few will join the protest. The resolution will be implemented this month or in the next. We are yet to decide salaries should be recovered in a phased manner or one installment."