A senior faculty member of the Hindu College Ratan lal on Monday made some serious allegations against the college administration for plundering funds and violating the rules of engaging guest teachers. lal, who teaches History, alleged that college principal Pradumn Kumar had hired guest teachers beyond the sanctioned posts instead of hiring ad hoc teachers. Responding to the allegations levelled by the teacher, Kumar said that the UGC had approved the remuneration paid to the teachers in the audit which retrospectively worked as an approval for the guest teachers.
According to lal, Hindu College has been hiring more guest teachers than the sanctioned number of teachers allowed in each department.
“When the OBC quota came in, the number of teachers sanctioned to teach under one department were increased. Forty four more such posts were sanctioned. However, of these only 21 permanent appointments got approved and 23 were still left. The college should have then resorted to employing ad hoc teachers for the 23 seats. However, it hired guest teachers and that too three guest teachers in place for each ad hoc teacher. According to the UGC rules, guest teachers can only be hired against a sanction post. Thus, the fact that more guest teachers were hired is a clear violation,” said lal in a Press conference on Tuesday at his residence situated on the college campus.
lal further stated that the employment of guest teachers also led to severe plundering of money. “Almost Rs60 lakh has been spent on guest teachers. This money could have been used for ad hoc teachers as well. This has been a total waste of money as there is no value addition,” shared lal.
However, college principal Kumar said, “We are bound by the UGC and follow their rules completely. That is the reason we haven’t hired ad hoc teachers. The UGC gives us salaries for the teachers and when we hire ad hoc teachers we have to give them the full salary. Where will the salary for 23 ad hoc teachers come fromIJ It is financially more viable for me to get ad hoc teachers but the UGC has not sanctioned the salaries to us. For guest teachers we get reimbursement and honorarium. The amount for guest lecturers, however, is limited which helps us accommodate them.”
As for hiring more guest teachers, Kumar said that since these teachers were needed, they were hired. “The interest of students is foremost. Additionally, in the audit, the UGC sanctioned the money to be paid as salaries to these teachers. If I had flouted any rule, this money wouldn’t have been sanctioned,” he said.