Exam dept hit as MU axes jobs of 250 contract employees

More than 250 contractual employees’ contracts were not renewed by University of Mumbai (MU) three months ago. This has had a domino effect on the functioning of the varsity’s various departments, especially the examination department which has been fielding complaints of delays in declaring results to errors in mark-sheets, lately

Mumbai: More than 250 contractual employees’ contracts were not renewed by University of Mumbai (MU) three months ago. This has had a domino effect on the functioning of the varsity’s various departments, especially the examination department which has been fielding complaints of delays in declaring results to errors in mark-sheets, lately.

Mumbai...20th January 2011... Mumbai University - HT Photo by Hemant Padalkar (Hindustan Times)

Sources in MU said around 20 of the sacked employees were working in the examination department for around 10-12 years, and their absence has now resulted in around 3,064 graduate students of law discovering their final year mark-sheets bearing the wrong permanent registration number, leading to the crucial documents being recalled.

Similarly, engineering students have been in a fix if they should take the ATKT exams since the results of the revaluation they had applied for three months ago is still awaited.

None of the MU officials HT contacted were available to comment on the issue. A senior official said on condition of anonymity, “The university has resolved the internet issues in the examination department and to date, the department has only nine per cent results pending. The university is working on it.”

The issue of non-renewal of contracts dates back to eight years. MU had hired 1200 contract employees to fill up its many vacancies. Around 900 of these employees moved the Bombay high court (HC) over not being paid salaries and benefits on par with permanent employees in 2015. HC ruled in their favour, following which MU moved Supreme Court. The apex court also ruled in the employees’ favour in 2021.

Sources in MU said around 250 contractual workers did not participate in the legal battle, after MU took an undertaking from them on not taking legal recourse. However, when the court ruled in favour of the 900 employees, some of the 250 employees contemplated following suit, which led to MU axing their jobs.

“Getting wind of the situation, the varsity administration did not renew the contract of these employees, including 15 to 20 who worked in the examination department. Their contracts expired in August; resultantly, there was no one to work on the exam results. Work in the examination department of the varsity has suffered due to the absence of these employees,” said an official.

Senate members blame the lacuna on twin factors – MU’s jurisdiction has expanded leading to an increase in workload, but it has not been able to recruit permanent employees.

Senior senate member Supriya Karande said, “Even though about 70% of the administrators in the varsity are working on contract basis, the varsity is not treating these employees properly. The university should do justice to students by maintaining full staff strength in important departments like the examination department and reinstate the employees whose contracts were not renewed.”