The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Row over order against part-time lecturers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Row over order against part-time lecturers

Staff Reporter

Govt. fails to produce copy of Supreme Court judgment

BANGALORE: The Government suffered embarrassment in the Legislative Council on Wednesday when it failed to produce the copy of the Supreme Court judgment pertaining to terminating the services of 535 part-time lecturers in Government first-grade colleges for their failure to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) and the State-level Eligibility Test for Lecturership (SLET).

Raising the issue under Rule 330, Sushil G. Namoshi, Ramachandra Gowda, K. Balakrishna Bhat (Bharatiya Janata Party), M.P. Nadagouda (Janata Dal - United), Maritibbe Gowda (Congress) and others urged the Government to withdraw its order terminating the services of the lecturers as the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) has issued an interim order in favour of the lecturers. The Government refused to do so.

In his written reply, the Minister for Higher Education, D. Manjunath, said the Government had set July 9, 2005 as the deadline for the lecturers to clear the NET and the SLET. A direction from the Supreme Court in this context had stated that the services of lecturers who had not cleared the NET and the SLET were liable to be terminated. The Government did not take action against the lecturers on July 9 as an interlocutory application filed by Sujatha and others was to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on July 11.

However, the application was "dismissed as withdrawn" by the court, and the Government issued an order to discharge the lecturers, as inaction or continuation of them in service would have amounted to contempt of court, the Minister said.

He said that on an appeal from Shivaraju and others on the issue, KAT, in an interim order on July 13, directed the Government not to discharge the lecturers.

Even as members were trying to impress upon him about the difficulties faced by the lecturers in clearing the NET and the SLET, Mr. Manjunath said the Government is looking into the possibility of accommodating the lecturers in junior colleges. It has convened a meeting of those concerned to find a solution, he added.

The Leader of the Opposition, D.H. Shankaramurthy, suggested that the Government withdraw the order against the lecturers citing KAT's interim order.

Even as the Minister refused to withdraw the order, V.S. Ugrappa of the Congress demanded action against the officials concerned, who "misled" the Government by concealing or ignoring some vital and operational parts of the Supreme Court's ruling.

Reading out the judgement, he said: "The court has allowed the contenders to present their case before an appropriate forum for adjudication."

The Chairman of the House, V.R. Sudarshan, suggested that Mr. Manjuanth convene a meeting on the issue to find an appropriate solution. Unhappy with the response, some members rushed into the well of the House. In the din, Mr. Shankaramurthy, Mr. Ugrappa and others demanded that the Government produce a copy of the Supreme Court judgment. Mr. Manjunath said he did not have one. Enraged by the response, the members demanded action against officials for their failure to make a copy available.

Mr. Sudarshan adjourned the House for the day.

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