After complaints from several lecturers and associations regarding the non-payment of salaries from their respective colleges, Telangana’s Department of Technical Education issued an official order on Thursday to institutions in the state asking them to release the pending salaries to the staff.
Amid the lockdown, about 80 colleges affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University – Hyderabad (JNTU-H), Osmania University (OU) and Kakatiya University (KU) did not pay salaries to their employees for the months of March and April 2020.
While issuing the order asking all these institutions to pay the salaries as early as possible, the Department of Technical Education said that action would be initiated against the concerned managements if they violate the order.
Warning the technical institutions, the order stated: “All the government as well as private establishments shall make payments of wages/salaries fully to the workers and the employees including those working under contract and outsourcing basis during the lockdown period. Any violation will be viewed seriously and will invite penal action under The Epidemics Disease Act 1897.”
The letter was addressed to the principals of Engineering/ Pharmacy/ MBA/ MCA colleges in the state. All the institutions were also asked to adhere to instructions from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the state government orders with respect to payment of salaries during the lockdown period.
Though the Telangana government had already stated that no salaries should be held back, be it for outsourced employees or contract workers, several colleges still went ahead with pay cuts and terminations.
The pay cuts happened despite the faculty working for full time, teaching classes online and working from home, said M Bala Krishna from the Telangana Technical Institutions Employees Association. It was after his representation that the Technical Education department gave the recent order.
Some lecturers say they are still doubtful about the implementation of the order and demanded that their salaries be credited as soon as possible given their financial condition.