Pune: Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has decided to put on hold the incremental honorarium to be paid from October 2019 for two semesters - April 2020 and October - November 2020 to its 10 thousand professors and other staff who perform several duties while conducting examinations every year.

The university gets around Rs 45 crore annually from the examination fees charged from the students. The expenditure on conducting examinations is around Rs 100 crore per annum. Remuneration is given for various responsibilities including setting question papers, working as a supervisor during examinations, checking of answer sheets, flying squad, conducting practical examinations and supervising it. The honorarium had not increased since 2008-09. Therefore, the university had decided to increase it up to 20 per cent from October 2019.

Its implementation started from last year. However, some student unions have filed a petition in the high court asking why students should pay the fees if the university has not conducted exams. Therefore, in the recent meeting of the Management Council, a decision was taken to put on hold the incremental honorarium to be paid from October 2019 for two semesters - April 2020 and October - November 2020.

Dr Mahesh Kakade, Director of Board of Examinations and Evaluation of SPPU said, "An average of 22 to 24 lakh answer sheets are checked in a single semester. A large number of employees are engaged in this work and for which honorarium is paid to them. However, a petition has been filed in the High Court seeking a refund of examination fees of students. Since the decision of conducting exams has not been taken yet by the Supreme Court, we have decided to cut costs and thus have postponed disbursal of the revised honorarium offered by the university from October 2019."

A professor from the university on condition of anonymity said, "We are paid for the examination work. According to the new policy, the hike was about 20 per cent. However, as the situation is different this year due to Covid-19 outbreak, the University may have decided to reduce the honorarium. We welcome this decision and there will be no effect on the work because the honorarium has been reduced."

Workforce utilised during examination process - About 20,000

Number of professors - About 11,000
Answer sheets in one session - 22 lakhs to 24 lakhs
Total Subjects - 5800

Remuneration for various works

Travel allowance for class one and two - Rs 650
Travel allowance for class three and four - Rs 520 to Rs 390
Paper Checking - Rs 26
Paper setting - Rs 340 to Rs 886
Paper setting for practical - Rs 340 to Rs 715
Coordinator - Rs 2000
Assistant Coordinator - Rs 1000
Senior Supervisor - Rs 200 to Rs 260
Clerical work - Rs 40 to Rs 200