The government has declined to bear the financial burden arising out of the appointment of 102 faculty members and 67 non-teaching staffers at the School of Engineering of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat).
An order issued by the Department of Higher Education on February 4 said that all financial commitments (including salary and pension) should be met from the internal revenue of the School of Engineering. However, the government has ratified the varsity Registrar’s decision to open self-financing schools without the State’s concurrence and create 102 teaching and 67 non-teaching posts.
Since the School of Engineering remains a self-financing institution (a separate entity), staff selection has to be done separately. Periodic hike in fee should be effected as it is done in other self-financing engineering colleges. The present practice of maintaining separate accounts for these schools should continue, according to the order.
The Cusat Vice Chancellor in a letter dated November 16, 2016 had sought government support and concurrence for permanent posting of teachers. The Syndicate had created teaching and non-teaching posts, and appointments were made under the varsity’s statutes without government approval. The first appointment of a teacher was made in 1999, it said.
The order has come as a blow to faculty members, who had expected that the government would extend financial support as was done in the case of teacher recruitments in its regular departments as per the norms prescribed by the University Grants Commission / All India Council for Technical Education and provisions of the Cochin University of Science and Technology Act, 1986.
The university authorities had submitted that the appointments had been made to the common pool of teachers using the same communal rotation register for permanent / regular teachers.
Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor K.N. Madhusoodanan said on Saturday that the varsity would approach the government again seeking to reconsider its decision. “We are no longer in a position to continue meeting financial requirements from the internal revenue of the School of Engineering in view of the increasing gap in revenue and expenditure,” he added.
