UoM flouts UGC rules, sanctions hefty salary for guest lecturers

Violating University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, the University of Mysore has announced a huge hike in salaries of temporary/guest lecturers.

The university has fixed a monthly salary of Rs 50,000 per guest lecturer, according to a notification issued on January 19 (dated January 18). Applications were invited for two posts of ‘assistant professors’ for five new departments proposed on a ‘temporary basis’.

The revised UGC guidelines of 2010 state that guest lecturers must be paid Rs 1,000 per lecture to a maximum of Rs 25,000 per month. This means that the 10 new guest lecturers will be taking home huge pay packets, while the existing temporary lecturers will draw only up to Rs 25,000 a month.

UoM has also flouted the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000. According to Section 15 of the Act, the vice-chancellor or the university has no powers to fix salaries of temporary lecturers. Further, the High Court on July 14, 2015 had ruled against Kuvempu University for issuing a similar notification. The Court has ordered that varsities should “strictly follow existing guidelines and rules of Government of Karnataka and UGC, while recruiting guest lecturers”.

The departments proposed are, ‘Genetics and Genomics’, ‘Molecular Biology’, ‘Organic Chemistry’, ‘Public Administration’, and ‘School of Law’ (in place of existing School of Justice).

Setting up of a new law department, even by an autonomous body like UoM without obtaining permission from the Karnataka State Law Universities, is in violation of the KSLU Act, 2009.

The university has also violated the election code of conduct by issuing the notification after the Assembly and ZP/TP elections were announced. The Mysuru district commissioner has ordered for the process to be withheld.

No violation: Registrar

UoM Registrar C Basavaraj maintained that the salary enhancement was not in violation of UGC guidelines. “It is a consolidated amount and the university has obtained the syndicate’s approval. The salary component will be met by our own resources.” He also said the proposed School of Law would not be a “new department”. “We just wanted to change the nomenclature from School of Justice to School of Law. There is no need to take KSLU’s permission,” he added.

‘KSLU Act flouted’

B S Reddy, Registrar of KSLU said that UoM had not sought any permission for the setting up of a new law department. “It is not clear how the UoM syndicate approved the proposal. The KSLU Act, 2009 clearly stipulates that all new law departments (excepting in private and deemed varsities) have to be affiliated to KSLU. It is not clear how the Law department is allowing this. This will set a wrong precedent,” he said.