TISS withdraws controversial notice to faculty and staff members over non-renewal of contracts
Mumbai, Jun 30: The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Sunday said it has withdrawn the notices given to 55 teaching and 60 non-teaching staff of non-renewal of contracts and asked them to continue their work.
In the circular, the TISS said all 55 faculty and 60 non-teaching staff were appointed under programs funded by Tata Education Trust (TET) and were on a contractual basis with exact programme period.
The contracts of the teaching and non-teaching staff at four TISS campuses -- Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad and Guwahati were due to end on June 30 (Sunday).
Ongoing discussions with Tata Education Trust have provided assurance that resources will be made available to TISS to resolve this issue, the circular said, adding TET has committed to releasing funds for salaries of TET project/programme faculty and non-teaching staff.
"The letter numbered Admn/5(1) TET-Faculty & Staff/2024, dated 28th June 2024, addressed to all concerned TET Programme faculty and non-teaching staff, is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect. They are requested to continue their work, and salaries will be released as soon as the TET Support Grant is received by the institute," the circular said.
The non-renewal of contract had invited sharp criticism from the students body and fellow faculty members.
A faculty member said these contracts had been issued for the teaching and non-teaching staff from grants received from the Tata Trust.
They accused the TISS administration of not foreseeing the situation.
"It is over the last 10-15 years that we have been receiving grants for employing additional faculty to teach various courses. That funding was to be renewed. The no-cost extension and renewal of grant doesn't seem to have happened in a timely manner," the person said.
"We were apprised on June 28 about the non-renewal of contracts. We told the TISS administration not to issue the letters (pertaining to non-renewal of contracts) till it hears from the Tata Trust. Let us try to find a solution. But our appeal did not find favour," the faculty member said.
Some of the teaching staff members were even part of the interview process which selects candidates for academic sessions for various courses last month, the person said.
"We asked the administration about the status of funding last month and we were told there was no reason to worry. But, suddenly notices were issued that contracts have not been renewed due to lack of funds. This is sheer mismanagement on part of the administration which could not foresee what was coming," the faculty member claimed.
Another faculty member said usually contracts get over and teaching members continue to work. In the past, no notice of termination of contracts was given. "It seems this has been done deliberately," he claimed.
The Progressive Students Forum on Saturday claimed the episode is a complete failure of the current TISS administration in running the institute and apathy of the BJP-led Union government.
"The recent blunders made by the Ministry of Education in conducting nationwide entrance examinations only add to the incompetence of the central government," it charged.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
