KARACHI, April 18: While about two dozen non-teaching employees of the S M Law College are facing uncertainty regarding their jobs, the college administration maintains that it is ready to plead their cases at some higher forum and get some relief for them.
A group of agitating employees, claiming to enjoy students’ support as well, continued their protest campaign against the college administration on Friday. “Today is our eleventh day of protest and we are firm to continue with it till the time the principal is removed and a high-level enquiry is held into the college affairs,” a protesting group leader, outside the college gate said.
The group threatened to observe a hunger strike in view of what they called the “acts of massive misappropriation and nepotism” at the college.
The employees, holding banners, maintained that the management was all out to abolish the regular services of 24 employees and was taking measures to transform their existing nature of service into sort of a contractual one.
They claimed that the college was facing financial burden due to wrong policies of the administration and of the Board of Governors of the college, so the employees should not be punished for it.
The S M Law College, an autonomous institution, being run under a BOG appointed by the Sindh government, has about 1,600 students, who are taught and trained by a faculty comprising 40 persons, mostly belonging to legal profession and paid an honorarium ranging from Rs 4,500 to 7,500 each, against four lectures in a month, a source in college said.
A college staff said though the management had been able to hold classes, a considerable number of male and female students were still staying at home in view of the prevailing confusion and any possible law and order situation.
Rangers personnel have been posted at different places in the college, including the balconies and rooftop.
Talking to Dawn over telephone, the principal of the college, Barrister Khurshid A Hashmi, who is also deputy advocate-general of Sindh, said on Friday that he was never biased against the protesting employees and was still ready to welcome them at their respective jobs.
“What they have been doing for some days was nothing but a premature and preemptive action”, he added, saying that their apprehensions about the change in service condition had no ground, as the college administration had still not moved for implementation of a decision of the BOG. “I once again assure them that management
will move the BOG for further sympathetic consideration, as it is believed that no one should be removed from his existing service without offering a befitting package,” the principal said.
The BOG of the college in its meeting of January 12, 2002, had resolved that the non-teaching staff, who were part time employees, shoudl be employed on contract basis, from July 1, 2002.
The principal said that the resolution No 4, which was in question, had not been implemented as yet.
He said that the demand made by employees regarding the reconstitution of the Board of Governors had been fulfilled by the government, and it was hoped that the meeting of the board would be held in near future with the consent of the vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi, who was the chairman of the board.
The decision with regard to change in service conditions of the non-teaching staff was taken by the board, which was of the view that while the resources were shrinking it would not be wise to maintain the whole strength of employees under existing pays and allowances, he added, saying that the concern raised by employees could be discussed at the new BOG meeting and a new formula, like that of a golden handshake, could also be evolved.
However, Salahuddin Abro and Nadeem Khan, both employees, maintained that the management had already started taking measures against the employees in question and that was why the GP fund had not been deducted from their salaries for last six months, while the annual increments in their salaries were also not being granted for last two years.
The payment of pension to retired employees had also been stopped, they claimed and added that number of leaves had also been reduced drastically, while on the other hand they were not being paid Eid bonuses.
They said that since they were performing a six-hour job, they could not be treated as part-time employees and they had got all legal right to protest and fight for their rights.
“We are against nepotism and undue payment to some hired faculty members, some of whom are also BOG members, and are ready to enter any dialogue with the sitting principal,” they concluded.
