COIMBATORE: The Bharathiar University Employees' Welfare Association has alleged that the university administration deducted amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 from employees' salaries for the month of July towards ESI contributions without giving any prior information.
M Rameshkumar, president-cum-general secretary of the association, told TNIE that following a complaint to the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) urging it to ensure coverage for the employees, Bharathiar University (BU) began making ESIC contributions in April as per ESIC rates.
"Since April, the university has been deducting Rs 150 from employees' salaries towards ESI contributions. However, for the month of July, it deducted amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 from employees' salaries. It came as a shock to us as the university did not communicate anything to us regarding it. When we sought an explanation, the BU administration failed to provide a proper reason," he alleged.
He pointed out that the employees, who received low salaries of Rs 20,000, were struggling to meet their financial commitments and urged the university to refund the amount deducted from their salaries.
According to sources, the ESIC allegedly imposed a fine of lakhs of rupees on BU for failing to provide ESI coverage to eligible employees during a certain period. To meet this liability, the university administration allegedly recovered the amount from employees' salaries.
An officer from BU said the university has paid around Rs 1 crore to the ESIC towards both the employer's and employees' contributions for the period from 2019 onwards.
He said the university had initially planned to recover the employees' share of the contribution over the next three months.
"However, at the employees' request not to deduct the amount in a lump sum, the university decided to recover the employees' contribution in a single installment from this month's salary, he said.