Private college in Kochi owes Rs 12 crore in dues to teachers
KOCHI: The teachers and non-teaching staff of the CET College of Management, Science and Technology in Airappuram near Perumbavoor are up in arms against the management over unpaid salary and dues. Over 124 former staff - teachers and non-teaching - along with their families are striking in front of the college demanding the return of their money amounting to around Rs 12 crore.
Recently, a former teacher Keerthi along with her husband had threatened to commit suicide inside the campus after the management failed to give them the salaries and the deposit amount due to them.
"Each one of has a single demand- return our security deposit that ranges from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, and settle our salary dues," said Eldho John Airappuram, husband of a teacher who was forced to submit her resignation when she applied for maternity leave.
"The college is affiliated to MG University and was set up in 2006. It is a self-financing college and has been doing good till 2016. Even the student intake was good with over 3,000 students studying in the college. However, in 2016, the troubles began cropping up. Salaries began coming in late and after a few months, the college stopped giving remunerations altogether," he said.
According to Eldho, for two years, 2016 and 2017, the teachers had been working without pay.
"When the college management stopped paying the salary, the teachers protested and began demanding payment. However, the management resorted to intimidation tactics and teachers were forced to withdraw their protest. The management would even make false promises," said Eldho. "We didn't even get support from the police, who never entertained our complaints. We were forced to approach the director-general police who then issued a directive to office of the circle inspector, Kunnathunad (Pattimattam Police Station), under section 420 to register our FIR," he added.
According to him, the management threatened and coerced nearly 95 percent of the staff to quit. "All these staffers are women. The management told them that if they want their deposits back, they will have to resign," he said. The teachers have decided to submit a mass petition before the court seeking a solution. "Even mediations have failed," he said.
However, Paul Thomas, dean of the college, who is also the secretary of the Christian Educational Trust, said, "I will settle the dues of the staff after selling a part of the campus. We have got assets worth Rs 100 crore, so I just have to sell some of it. It is true the issue has been there for over two and a half years."
According to Paul, the college was going to start five MBA batches and got the approval of the AICTE too but the new government did not give sanction to it. "Due to the issues at the college, the number of students has also come down. I could have sold the property before and paid the dues but some vested interests are creating hurdles. Most of the striking teachers are not aware of this,” said Paul.