Anger in Visva-Bharati as salaries are delayed without explanation

There is anger in Visva-Bharati over the unexplained delay in the cost of salaries and pension for June. Salaries are normally credited on the final day of each month however they remained unpaid till a minimum of Monday afternoon — a delay of 5 days — with no phrase from the authorities.

The Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association (VBUFA) and the critics of Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty name the delay “intentional and arbitrary”. The college PRO, the one official authorised to talk to the media, didn’t reply to requires remark.

“Many aged retired employees visited banks as usual to withdraw their pension and returned with pain. The right to receive salary and pension is a fundamental right enshrined under Article 21 of Constitution and non-payment would have direct bearing on quality of life as upheld by the verdict in many court cases in India,” the VBUFA wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s the Chancellor of Visva-Bharati.

‘COVID situation not an excuse’

“Timely disbursement of salary is a statutory obligation on the part of the employer. If he fails to do this duty in any Central University, then the Accounts Officer, Registrar and the Vice-Chancellor are held responsible for dereliction of duty. The COVID situation cannot be an excuse for non-payment of salary as banks and accounts departments all over the country remain open,” the lecturers’ union wrote.

According to a union member, most workers in Visva-Bharati bought much less wage for May without explanation and when a professor sought to know the explanation throughout a web based college assembly, he was requested by the V-C to take cost of wage disbursement. A verbal showdown between the 2 adopted and the delay in the wage was a results of that spat, the union member stated whereas asking to not be named.

Not the primary time

This isn’t the primary time throughout Prof. Chakrabarty’s tenure that salaries have been delayed. Last yr too, disbursement of salaries was delayed throughout February, June and July. The cause given was lack of funds however the Education Ministry insisted that there was no such paucity and had pulled up the authorities.

Prof. Chakrabarty took cost in November 2018, not lengthy earlier than the 1921-founded college was to rejoice its centenary, however his tenure continues to be marked with a string of disagreeable occasions, together with frequent serving of charge-sheets and notices on lecturers, threatening them with disciplinary motion.