HP University teachers, non-teaching staff protest non-payment of salaries

Irked by the non-payment of salaries, the Himachal Pradesh University Teachers’ Welfare Association (HPUTWA) and Non-Teaching Staff Association today jointly held a protest outside the premises of the Vice-Chancellor’s office at the university and demanded immediate disbursement of salaries. The teachers also boycotted the classes in protest of non-payment of salaries.

During the protest, the university staff raised slogans against the university administration and also criticised the Director of Higher Education as well as the Secretary (Education) over their alleged insensitivity over this matter.

Addressing the protest, Dr Nitin Vyas, president, HPUTWA said that the Secretary (Education) has not signed the salary file, despite it being on his desk for 10 days. He said that an inquiry should be held to find out the reason behind the official for not signing the file.

He said that earlier, the university used to receive its grant-in-aid quarterly from the state government. However, it is now being provided on a monthly basis, due to which the university has to approach the government each month for funds. “As a state university, the Himachal Pradesh government is responsible for ensuring timely payment of salaries, but this situation has made the university dependent and unstable” he said.

“Adding to the university’s administrative paralysis is the absence of a registrar, resulting in a backlog of files and delays in critical operations. This is very unfortunate that there is a conspiracy being made to tarnish the reputation of the university in which several administrative officials are also involved,” he said.

He added that employees of the university are irked due to the non-implementation of Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) for teachers and Revised Pay Commission (RPC) for non-teaching staff. Employees are also yet to receive arrears from the 2016 pay scale and full payment of Dearness Allowance (DA).

They continued to protest for around three hours after which they met the Pro-Vice chancellor Rajender Verma, who assured them a system will be introduced in the university within the next three days so that the salaries will be disbursed on time in the future. After receiving the assurances, the university staff called off the protest.

Himachal Tribune