The Commissioner of Collegiate Education in Tamil Nadu, E. Sundaravalli, has decided that guest lecturers appointed by government college principals cannot be paid University Grants Commission (UGC)-prescribed honorarium of ₹1,500 per lecture, subject to a maximum of ₹50,000 per month.
The decision has been taken in compliance with a direction issued by the Madras High Court on October 18. Citing reasons for her decision, the Commissioner said, the need to pay UGC-prescribed honorarium would not arise with respect to those who were not appointed as per UGC norms.
The IAS officer went on to state that the UGC norms require the constitution of a selection committee headed either by the vice-chancellor concerned or the latter’s nominee. However, guest lecturers in government colleges in Tamil Nadu were being appointed only by the principals concerned, she pointed out.
Such guest lecturers were paid a monthly honorarium of ₹20,000 till May 2023. The Higher Education Department had issued a Government Order on September 2, 2023, increasing the honorarium to ₹25,000 a month with effect from June 2023, the Commissioner highlighted.
It was C. Radhiga, serving as a guest lecturer in Commerce at the Kalaignar Karunanidhi Government Arts College in Tiruvannamalai from 2007, who had filed a writ petition in the High Court this year seeking implementation of the UGC guidelines prescribed as early as January 28, 2019.
While disposing of the writ petition in October, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh took note that a similar writ petition had been filed by The Tamil Nadu All Government College UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers Association in 2021, and it was disposed of by Justice R.N. Manjula on March 21, 2024.
While doing so, Justice Manjula expressed surprise over the plea for increasing the honorarium. “The very honorarium itself is only to honour the service rendered by guest lecturers. If they are not honoured properly, there is no obligation caused upon them to honour the invitation to give lectures.” she wrote.
She also said: “It appears that the government has also utilised the unemployment in the education sector and engaged qualified persons as guest lecturers by paying a paltry sum, which is rather a disgrace than an honour… It is also surprising to note that the guest lecturers’ services are engaged on monthly basis.”
After extracting the observations made by her, Justice Venkatesh said, the guest lecturers would be able to seek legal remedy only if the Commissioner of Collegiate Education takes a decision as to whether the UGC-prescribed honorarium could be paid to the guest lecturers or not.
He disposed of Ms. Radhiga’s writ petition with a direction to the Commissioner to take such a decision on or before November 30, 2024. Accordingly, the Commissioner had issued proceedings on Friday (November 29, 2024) rejecting the demand for payment of UGC-prescribed honorarium.
Published – November 30, 2024 01:46 pm IST
