Over 350 temporary non-teaching staff at Bharathiar University left in the lurch without pay since start of 2025

Over 350 temporary non-teaching staff at Bharathiar University left in the lurch without pay since start of 2025

Around 350 of the more than 600 non-teaching staff at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, who have been working on a temporary basis for several years, have complained that they have not received their monthly salaries since the beginning of 2025.

The temporary staff were appointed under two categories: daily wage and consolidated pay.

Those appointed under the daily wage system have remained in the job with a five-day break in service after 85 working days. For those under consolidated pay, the five-day break is enforced every six months. Their monthly salary ranges from ₹18,000 to ₹23,000.

In the absence of a regular Vice-Chancellor, the re-appointment of non-teaching staff must be carried out by the Higher Education Secretary, in his capacity as the Convenor of the Vice-Chancellor Committee. The university is learnt to have told the affected non-teaching staff that their salaries will be credited once the files are approved by the Higher Education Secretary.

The non-teaching staff comprising sweepers, drivers, office assistants, electricians, and gardeners staged a protest on Labour Day on May 1 to draw the Higher Education Department’s attention to their plight.

The delay in approval of the files is because the Higher Education Secretary has been pushed into an unenviable position of administering most of the State universities that are functioning without Vice-Chancellors, M. Ramesh Kumar, secretary of the Bharathiar Palkalaikazhagam Panialargal Nala Sangam said.

“The non-teaching staff who are not at fault have been subjected to a struggle for daily survival due to the withholding of salaries. Such a delay has not happened so far,” Mr. Ramesh lamented.