Nearly 60% of the colleges affiliated to the University of Madras don’t follow UGC norms for payment of salaries to teaching staff, an ongoing inspection by the varsity has found. Further, a few colleges have faculty members who don’t possess the necessary qualifications while few others don’t possess proper land records, sources said.
The inspection by teams comprising university officials and those from colleges of repute has, so far, covered 52 of the 94 aided and private colleges affiliated to the varsity. A questionnaire was sent to all the affiliated arts and science colleges seeking details like the availability of classrooms, laboratories, and faculty and student strength. The teams have since December last year been carrying out verification of the information with a physical inspection. It was then that the irregularities came to the fore. The university affiliation committee is now preparing reports on each of the inspected colleges, which will then be submitted in the syndicate meeting for action, started a report by The New Indian Express.
Mentioning underpayment of staff as having been identified as a crucial issue, University of Madras Vice-Chancellor S Gowri said, “Once the report is placed in the syndicate, the course of action against the (errant) affiliated colleges will be decided upon.”
Corroborating the vice-chancellor’s statement, a member of the college inspection team said, “We also interacted with college staff and found out that most of them are underpaid. Those holding Assistant Professor posts are getting paid a paltry sum of around Rs 30,000, which is much lesser than UGC norms." Further, a few affiliated colleges don't have adequate PhD qualified staff. Some others, which have NIRF ranking, didn’t produce proper land records, the member added, as reported by The New Indian Express.
While the university plans to complete the inspection by next month, R Rangarajan, dean in charge of the College Development Council at the university, pointed out that such a check was carried out earlier only to accord necessary approval when affiliated colleges applied for starting new courses or for reviving closed ones.
Meanwhile, colleges that have reported irregularities will be issued notices and given time to rectify deviations. Should they still fail to comply, the affiliation committee will decide on further course of action, university officials said, as reported by The New Indian Express.
