Ramadoss slams TN govt over salary arrears for guest lecturers, seeks higher honorarium

CHENNAI: Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) chief S Ramadoss on Sunday demanded the state government to compensate the guest lecturers in Tamil Nadu adequately and increase their pay to Rs 50,000, as per University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.

In a statement, Ramadoss said, "Despite the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court's order to pay the guest lecturers Rs 50,000, the state government has not done so and is extracting work without paying them for the past three months," he said, as reported by Daily Thanthi.

The PMK chief pointed out that 7,314 guest lecturers were working in the 164 government arts colleges in the state but despite their seniority in designation, they were barely paid even Rs 20,000.

The UGC has notified that a guest faculty should be paid an honorarium of Rs 50,000 per month, with Rs 1,500 being given for each lecture. "However, this guideline is not being followed by government colleges despite a court order. How are people earning Rs 20,000 supposed to run their homes if they haven't been paid for three months," Ramadoss asked.

Stating that although guest lecturers work throughout the year, they are paid only for 11 months from June to April and not in May, he said that he has been urging the DMK government to pay them their honorarium on the last day of their service.

"It is unfair to not pay the guest lecturers an honorarium for May and keep arrears on their monthly payments as well. The Tamil Nadu government should not exploit the labour of the guest lecturers," Ramadoss said.

Going on to state that Tamil Nadu was the only state that paid its guest lecturers the lowest possible honorarium, he said that 15 years ago, they were paid Rs 10,000 which has increased to Rs 20,000 only now.

"It is time the state government paid the lecturers their arrears and also increased their pay to Rs 50,000," the opposition leader urged,