THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite a government order and a standard operating procedure that stipulates timely payment of remuneration to nearly 5,000 guest lecturers in colleges across the state, many of them have been left without pay for over two months since the commencement of the academic year.
On the basis of numerous representations from guest lecturers, the government had issued an order in 2023 that salary disbursement should commence without delay after the ratification of their appointments.
In the case of guest teachers in aided colleges who form the majority, the Deputy Directors (DD) of Collegiate Education were asked to speedily disburse the salary bills presented by the colleges.
However, owing to recurring complaints of delay in salary disbursement, Higher Education Minister R Bindu convened a high-level meeting in September last year and brought out a standard operating procedure for the process.
“The disbursement of salary was going on smoothly until recently when it was decided that the entire process that was de-centralised would be centralised again at the Director of Collegiate Education (DCE) level,” said a guest teacher preferring anonymity.
“Earlier, the funds for salary bills approved at the DD level could be drawn directly from the treasury. Now, a system has been put in place where the DCE has to allocate the funds pertaining to guest lecturers’ salary. The ongoing delay is due to this process,” explained a senior official.
Meanwhile, Minister R Bindu told the TNIE that she has directed the DCE to look into the complaints of delay in guest lecturer salary disbursal. “The DCE has been asked to expedite the process in view of the standard operating procedure for salary payment that the government has put in place,” the minister said.
Fund allocation to the deputy directors for salary disbursal has begun and the process of clearing the pending salary bills would commence soon," said an official at the Directorate.
The official also blamed colleges for the delay in many cases as the bills were not submitted to the DD offices in a timely manner.