Braving the harsh summer heat, a large number of senior and retired teachers staged a “satyagraha” under the banner of the DUTA, at the gates of Shastri Bhavan, to protest against the arbitrary and vindictive denial of pension by the DU Vice Chancellor. Wearing white and holding placards, they raised slogans to highlight the severe human crisis that has overcome the senior teachers and non-teaching employees of DU who have not received any pension for the last nine months as a result of an arbitrary decision of the DU authorities. In August 2014, soon after the rollback of FYUP, the DU authorities did a U-turn on an earlier decision to grant pension in compliance with a judgment of the Hon’ble High Court, and decided, instead, to challenge the court order. This has been used by them as a ploy to hold up the pensions of all retiring teachers and non-teaching employees, including those who had earlier been granted pension scheme by the University. This has led to extreme hardship for the most vulnerable section of teachers/employees, namely the senior citizens, who have been reduced to penury and despair in the last few months. They have had to seek loans even to meet basic expenses including medical expenses, which has led to a sharp deterioration in their state of health. The DUTA organised the satyagraha to draw attention to the enormous human tragedy unfolding in Delhi University as a result of the vindictive attitude of the Vice Chancellor.They demanded the removal of the callous Vice Chancellor, withdrawal of his malicious anti-teacher appeal in Court, and grant of pension to all teachers appointed before 1.1.1986, in keeping with the then Government of India Policy.
A delegation of retired teachers, including a teacher on a wheel-chair, met Joint Secretary Dr.S.S. Sandhu, along with the DUTA President, and submitted the attached memorandum. He was very sympathetic and assured early action to resolve the crisis.
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