COIMBATORE: The Industrial Tribunal in Chennai directed Bharathiar University (BU) to make the services of 227 employees, who are members of the Bharathiar University Employees Welfare Association (BUEWA), permanent.
According to the tribunal’s order, after their appointment and completion of 240 days of initial employment, the employees are to be given all back wages, allowances and other benefits, including the selection grade and special grade.
Additionally, the tribunal’s order states that the arrears of wages and allowances must be paid within three months of the date of the directive. Moreover, it said if there is any delay in payment, the respondent will be liable to pay interest on the outstanding amount at 6% per annum until the payment is made. The directive was issued by the tribunal on Tuesday to the BU registrar following an industrial dispute between the BUEWA and BU.
M Rameshkumar, president- cum-general secretary of BUEWA told TNIE that the university has 478 sanctioned posts, and 318 employees, appointed on a consolidated pay basis from 2001, are currently working as temporary staff.
He said the university has not made any new appointments to regular posts since 2012. Rameshkumar recalled that in 2022, after receiving frequent requests to make the temporary employees permanent, former BU Vice-Chancellor P Kaliraj had sent a proposal to the Higher Education Department, seeking to regularise employees who completed ten years of work in regular posts.
As there was no response from the state government, we formed an association to push for job regularization, he added. “We approached the assistant commissioner of labour in Coimbatore, but the talks failed. Of the 318 employees, 91 were not interested in the legal proceedings,” he said.
The association took the matter to a tribunal for the welfare of 227 employees, and hearings were held this year from April to August. “The tribunal has ensured our jobs are made permanent as per the Industrial Dispute Act,” he said.
He said this decision secured the livelihoods of 227 employees who get less than `20,000 per month. This would not impose a financial burden on the university as these are not new appointments, Rameshkumar added. A top officer from BU told TNIE they would soon discuss the tribunal order with the higher education secretary.