Election campaigning for the seventh and final phase of polling on June 1 ended across the state on Thursday, but the tussle between the education department and state universities, which began before the announcement of elections and brought the Raj Bhavan and the department to a standoff, did not end.
One notable issue throughout the election campaign was that education remained a major issue, with the mess in higher education reaching the Patna High Court and yet to be resolved, leaving thousands of teachers and staff and guest teachers without salaries for over four months and retired teachers without pensions.
Schools too witnessed full-fledged anger over the timing and later holding of classes in extreme heat, forcing the Governor and the Chief Minister to intervene after several students fainted and the Opposition as well as NDA allies turned aggressive.
Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav termed the situation as a sign of CM Nitish Kumar losing his grip. He said, “Now the governor is giving orders to the administration and holding review meetings. This points to something major happening after June 4 (when the Lok Sabha election results will be declared). He hardly came out to campaign in the last phase and seems worried about his party’s fate.”
BJP leaders also admit that the problems prevailing in schools and colleges, affecting lakhs of teachers and staff, may have some impact on the elections, but they are confident that the NDA will still win in Bihar, while the opposition is predicting its own victory.
However, the latest controversy is over the new pay system formulated by the Education Department for teachers and state universities, while compliance of the court order for payment of arrears is still awaited.
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Following the indefinite strike by Patna University Teachers’ Association and Employees Union over the latest order to pay salaries and pensions directly into employees’ accounts, other universities have also raised concerns over the delay in payment of four months’ dues despite the Patna High Court order earlier this month.
On the other hand, the department has announced its plan and posted officers at the level of Directorate of Higher Education to prepare, check and approve the salaries of teachers and staff of state universities and colleges under them, while the wait of teachers and pensioners is getting longer.
The departmental order signed by Director of Higher Education Rekha Kumari states that now departmental officers have been authorised instead of university level officers for the same work. This order has been sent to the Finance Department and other concerned departments.
However, universities have expressed their concern over the new system introduced without following the Patna High Court order. JP University (Chhapra) Registrar Ranjit Kumar has also written to the Education Minister expressing surprise over the meeting called by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar in his capacity as Chancellor to review the university budget passed two and a half months ago in the Senate meeting, which was attended by 14 MLAs and university officials.
He said, “Information about the Senate and Syndicate meetings was also sent to the secretary and the director of higher education on time, but they did not attend as members. The budget was passed unanimously. Two months later, a junior department official, ignoring traditional protocol, wrote a letter directly to the VC for a review meeting on May 28 and yet when the officer reached there, the director clearly said that there was a clear order from the additional chief secretary that no meeting would be held without the VC. The VC had agreed to join the meeting online, but that was also not done.”
He said the university will reconsider its decision to attend future meetings called by the department due to the disrespectful behaviour. He said this is merely an attempt to satisfy their ego at the cost of institutions established through Acts.
Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University (KSDSU) registrar Dinanath Shah also wrote to the director of higher education on Thursday to release the remaining portion of the sanctioned budget for the financial year 2023-24 and the current financial year 2024-25 and lodged strong protest against the new system of salary payment, calling it “contrary to the provisions of the Bihar State University Act, 1976 and an attack on the autonomy of universities”.
He said, “Despite the High Court staying the order of stay on the department, no funds have been released into the accounts for payment of outstanding salaries and pension. The department took a coercive step in violation of the court order by withholding the salary of the vice-chancellor from raising his genuine concerns in the meeting.”
KSDSU registrar wrote, “The High Court had directed the ACS to release the entire outstanding funds of the previous financial year within 10 days, but the department started the ‘unfair exercise’ of reviewing the current financial budget. Yet all officials except the Vice Chancellor were present. In a superficial use of power, the department insisted on the presence of the Vice Chancellor and called the meeting again on May 21. The Vice Chancellor himself was present in view of the High Court’s order to resolve the issues amicably. But such meetings would have been helpful if these were called before the budget presentation in the Senate and Syndicate or the department officials attended those meetings chaired by the Chancellor. Once the budget is approved, this exercise becomes futile.”
