More than 100 non-teaching staff members of Kuvempu University who got promotions between 2012 and 2021 without prior approval from the State government, have been demoted to their previous posts. Besides that, the university has decided to recover the salary benefits the employees enjoyed all these years. Those staff members who were promoted as First Divisional Assistants and Senior Assistants have been hit.
IAS officer Lokhande Snehal Sudhakar, who took charge as the Registrar of the university on August 8, issued an order withdrawing the promotions and recovery of salary benefits on August 24. As a result, the promotions have been cancelled and the employees have been demoted to lower ranks.
The university administration gave promotions to the junior assistants and first division assistants as and when required, pending approval from the State government. Initially, 36 First Divisional Assistants were promoted to Senior Assistants. Later, more than 70 Junior Assistants were promoted to First Divisional Assistants. All these years, they got salaries from the government.
However, with the introduction of the Human Resources Management System in 2021, the salary bills have to be cleared by the Joint Director of the Higher Education Department. The officers raised objections to clearing salary bills for the ‘non-sanctioned’ posts. “Whenever the officers raised objections, we met the minister of Higher Education and senior officers to get the bills cleared. This happened all these months with the support of the full-time Vice Chancellor and the Registrar, who were aware of the issue. Now we do not have a full-time VC and Registrar,” said Srinivas, president of the Kuvempu University Non-Teaching Employees.
Earlier this month, Dr. Vishnumurthy K.A., Joint Director of the Shivamogga Regional Office of Higher Education Department, returned the salary bills of the employees for July 2023, raising objections to the non-sanctioned posts. As a result, the Registrar issued the order withdrawing the promotions and financial benefits. “Now, we have to approach the government seeking a solution. As of now, there is no full-time VC and Registrar,” said Srinivas, whose promotion as FDA has been withdrawn.
Prof. S. Venkatesh, Vice Chancellor (Acting), told The Hindu that the Registrar had taken a decision on the issue. “Many decisions were taken earlier without proper approval from the concerned authority. I will discuss the issue with the Registrar,” he said.
