Karnataka State Government Degree College Guest Lecturers’ Federation which had launched an indefinite relay hunger strike has suspended the same temporarily, following an assurance from the Higher Education Minister D H Shankaramurthy, to consider their demands positively.

The Federation which had began its agitation with an indefinite dharna and had resorted to indefinite relay hunger strike recently was planning to intensify its agitation further if the government did not respond positively to their demands. They are agitating for regularisation of their services.

Two MLCs Shashil Namoshi and Manohar Maski called on the agitating guest lecturers and assured them they would do everything possible to fulfill their demands. The leaders spoke to Shankaramurthy on phone on June 24. They also fixed an appointment with the minister to discuss about their demands.

Accordingly the minister invited the agitating Federation leaders to come to a meeting to Bangalore. 
A delegation of the Federation has gone to Bangalore to discuss the issue with the minister in the presence of principal secretary of the education department.

The guest lecturers have claimed that they are fully qualified and their appointment as guest lecturers has been made after following the roaster system and as per the qualification and other requirements prescribed by the UGC and State government.

However, all of a sudden the state government has decided to recruit lecturers to government degree collegs through Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) which they said was detrimental to the interests of guest lecturers.

They pointed out that the guest lecturers are the products of annual examination system where as the candidates appearing for recruitment are from semester system and the latter always have a bright chance of being recruited as they have scored more marks in the qualifying examinations.

There was no scope for scoring marks liberally in the annual examination system as a result of which guest lecturers have bleak chances of absorption.

Moreover, due to ban on recruitment of college lecturers for several years most of the qualifying candidates have crossed the upper age limit and as such they remain deprived of employment.

The Federation said the only solution for the problem is to regularise the services of all the guest lecturers working in government colleges from the last few years.