Lecturers boycott evaluation; delay of BU results likely

The results of Bangalore University's examinations held in December are likely to be delayed as the lecturers have decided to boycott the evaluation process which was to begin on Tuesday.

The Karnataka Government College Teachers' Association is boycotting evaluation as some of the lecturers have been asked to return their dearness allowance. This will affect the evaluation of about 22 lakh answer papers of the University students belonging to various courses.

The evaluation process was to begin at the Central college campus on Tuesday. The group has submitted their demands to the registrar (evaluation) of BU, Prof C Shivaraju.

President of the association, Dr H Prakash said that the University Grants Commission owes arrears to several lecturers of government and aided colleges. The order to revise the payscale which was to be given in 2006 was passed in 2009. So, teachers recruited after 2006 are also eligible for arrears, he reasoned.

Recently, the Department of Collegiate Education had ordered that the government degree college lecturers to return the arrears paid to them as Dearness Allowance. The reason given was that the arrears were calculated only on basic pay and not on allowances.  Lecturers protested against this saying that there was no direction from UGC on this regard.

Ramesh Babu, JD(S) MLC visited the site of the protest and interacted with the lecturers.

Meanwhile, Shivaraju said that the paper evaluation was supposed to be completed by January 10, when colleges will reopen. "The boycott will affect the schedule. We will bring this matter to the notice of the government," he said.

About 3.5 lakh students appeared for examinations of nine courses including BA, BSc, BCom, BBA, BBM among others. About 4,000 lecturers were appointed for the evaluation.