Call it a paradox. The person who conceptualised a research centre at Cusat has been thrown out of it and is fighting to get honorarium which has been pending for 32 months.
Dr Joseph M J Makkolil, scientist at the Inter-university Centre for Nanomaterials and Device (IUCND) under the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), has launched an agitation against the varsity for withholding his honorarium for the service he rendered at IUCND.
Agitated over the stand taken by the varsity, Makkolil has gone on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the varsity canteen. The hunger strike entered its 3rd day on Thursday.
According to him, the varsity is not releasing the honorarium even after the syndicate took a decision to release the same.
“The honorarium has been in pending since 2011. The university wants me to submit a letter of non-liability and to leave the university. Though the syndicate recommended to give me honorarium for 20 months, I received a letter from the Planning and Development Officer that honorarium for just 16 months would be released,” he alleged.
Makkolil claimed that he had conceived the idea of IUCND and prepared a detailed proposal for it.
In 2008-09, Joseph had approached Cusat with the idea of setting up IUCND.
He also prepared a detailed proposal which was accepted by the university.
IUCND is a first-of-its-kind research centre in Kerala. The centre started functioning in 2009 itself and it was formally inaugurated in 2010. “Since then, there has been a movement against me. Though I conceptualised the centre, I was given the post of deputy director only. Later, the syndicate decided to regularise my appointment in the rank of associate professor/reader, but the varsity did not implement the syndicate decision,” he said.
Meanwhile, the university authorities claimed that the allegations were baseless.
“He is neither a staff of the varsity nor a part of any research project right now. He served with the IUCND till August 2013. Even at the centre, he was not assigned with any work. We have asked him to submit a report on his activities during the last two years. But he is not willing to submit it. The VC has ordered to distribute his remuneration as early as possible once he submits the report,” Cusat Registrar A Ramachandran said.