At a heavily packed Press Conference attended by hundreds of teachers who have retired/ are on the verge of retiring, the DUTA President, Nandita Narain, and Secretary Harish Khanna, slammed the Vice Chancellor for one of the worst instances of malgovernance, viz the arbitrary and vindictive denial of pension to thousands of retiring teachers and non-teaching employees since August 2014, soon after the rollback of FYUP, that has plunged the University community into the worst kind of humanitarian crisis ever. Calling it a shameful attack on the right to dignity and livelihood of the most vulnerable section of the university community, its senior citizens, they said that it was unprecedented that the head of the university should go to court to prevent its own members from getting pension from the Government, a right that teachers had won in April 2014, after a long legal battle. Equally shameful was the arbitrary decision to withdraw the pension scheme from those to whom the University itself had granted it. The DUTA demanded that all teachers appointed before 1.1.1986, should be given pension as was the intention of the Government at that time, when it had passed an order to that effect. In fact teachers appointed after 1.1.1986 were all compulsorily put in the pension(GPF) scheme.
Several teachers spoke about their plight because of being denied retirement benefits by an arbitrary order of the Vice Chancellor.
The DUTA had been representing to the Visitor, MHRD Minister and Secretary, UGC Chairman and Vice Chairman since August 2014, but nothing concrete had been done to lift the university out of this crisis.
The DUTA re-iterated the demand for removal of the VC whose illegal and vindictive actions had led to this conditions of the senior teachers who had served the university with dedication for 30-40 years and were being deprived of their retirement dues, which was their fundamental right and their only means of livelihood in the evening of their lives.
It was announced that the DUTA would appeal to the Prime Minister and the agitation would continue until the Govt. intervenes on behalf of the affected employees.
The DUTA also released the following Press Note
PRESS NOTE
The DUTA has been highlighting, through its White Paper and other representations to the Visitor and MHRD, the severe misgovernance and abuse of power by Prof Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor Delhi University, that has gutted our University and turned its life into a nightmare.
One of the worst examples of his whimsical, authoritarian and vindictive behaviour is the way he has treated the most vulnerable section of the community — retiring teachers and non-teaching employees. Since August 2014, in a clear act of petty vendetta after the rollback of FYUP, he has withheld the pension and retirement benefits of thousands of retiring teachers and non-teaching employees, bringing them to the brink of insolvency and despair.
To facilitate his evil design, he took an arbitrary decision in an EC meeting held on 14.8.2014, to (a) withdraw the pension scheme granted to employees by the University itself between 1987 and 1998, and (b)challenge the major pensionary relief granted to thousands of employees by an order of the Hon’ble High Court dated 30.4.2014 (that drew heavily from an earlier 2006 judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court ).
This decision of the EC was all the more shocking because this very EC had in its meeting held on 28.5.2014, decided to set up a Task Force “to suggest right pathways for ensuring the implementation of decisions stemming from the judgements [of 30.4.2014] keeping [in mind] the welfare of the employees serving as well as retired.” The complete turnaround in August can only be attributed to the rollback of his pet project FYUP that had taken place in June 2014! The VC’s contention that the reversal in position was based on a letter from MHRD is not borne out by facts, as the said letter had merely asked the VC to discuss the matter with the UGC (which he did not do), and not to go unilaterally to court against the interests of employees.
Subsequently, in September, 2014 the University proceeded to file an appeal against the pensionary relief given by the 30.4.2014 order, obtained a stay, and has used this to deny pension and retirement benefits to all retiring employees, including those who are not covered by the matter under judicial scrutiny.
Briefly, the matter concerns employees who were appointed before 1.1.86, who had two possible retirement schemes, CPF(lump sum) and GPF(pension). Around that time, Government decided that everyone should be put in pension scheme, so those appointed after 1.1.86 were all compulsorily in GPF. For the earlier appointees, a Presidential order was passed on 1.5.87, that all such employees will also be put in GPF automatically unless they specifically opt in writing for CPF within a five month window. Clearly, the intention was that all employees should move to GPF. However, the University did not implement this properly. Despite adopting the Government order formally, it never bothered to explain it to the employees. In the resulting confusion, some were granted GPF, others fought a prolonged legal battle to get their due on 30.4.2014. A small number, who were denied this option by the University, have not yet got legal relief.
The DUTA has been demanding that (a) The University must honour its committment to those to whom it had itself granted GPF, and whose retirement plans have been based on this premise. There is no judicial order justifying stoppage of pension for them, nor is their matter a subject of the current legal challenge by the university.
(b) The University must immediately withdraw its malicious appeal challenging the relief given to employees on 30.4.2014. Pending the calculation of pension, interim relief in the form of a lump sum be given to those who have already retired with the undertaking that adjustments can be made from the pension later.
(c) Those few employees who, unlike others in the same category, did not get a chance to exercise their option to move to GPF, be given a one-time relief by the MHRD. This has been done in the case of other government organisations and universities, and should not be denied to a small number of employees in the evening of their lives.
The DUTA had given a detailed representation in this regard to the Visitor on 27.8.2014, apprised the Hon’ble HRD Minister on 17.9.2014, the UGC Vice Chairman on 25.9.2014, the UGC Chairman on 19.2.2015 and the MHRD Secretary on 20.3.2015. We are deeply disappointed that the Government has not taken any concrete steps in this regard. Can the Government allow the legitimate right to livelihood and dignity of the senior citizens of this premier University to be trampled upon by the trickery, subterfuge and petty vendetta of a rogue VC (himself under Visitorial show-cause for misconduct) ?
Surely, in a country that prides itself on a tradition of honouring and cherishing its senior citizens, this intolerable and inhuman situation cannot be allowed to continue.
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