E-Paper
Despite high court order, Pune’s STES staff yet to get salaries
When contacted, STES officials refused to make any comment saying that the matter is subjudice.
Seven staff members of the Sinhgad Technical Education Society (STES) who have not got salaries since the past 16 months staged a protest near the front gate of the college campus in Erandwane on Saturday.
Sachin Shinde, a former faculty at STES engineering college, who is heading the protest, said, “While the court has asked the STES management to pay the pending salaries to the staff members with immediate effect, the management of the college has so far not acted upon the court’s order.”
“Salaries of at least 6,000 staff members are still unpaid. As a mark of protest, every Saturday, we gather near the Erandwane campus and demand payment of salaries,” added Shinde.
When contacted, STES officials refused to make any comment saying that the matter is subjudice.
STES teaching and non-teaching staff have been through a rough journey since at least a year fighting for salaries, which have been pending for at least 16 months.
Another member of the protest group, Raghunand Nalwade, a faculty at the Narhe campus of STES, said, “The management of STES has turned a deaf ear to our predicaments. It has become very difficult for us to survive without getting salaries for at least 16 months now.”
Shinde said, “We will continue to protest here until our demands are met.”
Faculty to hold protest every Saturday at Erandwane campus
The tussle between faculty members and Sinhgad Technical Education Society (STES) continues, as the faculty have decided to protest every Saturday outside the institute’s headquarters in Erandwane. The faculty members have formed a group called the Sinhgad Samanvay Samiti.
The teaching staff have been engaged in a scuffle with the educational society for at least a year over the institute’s failure to pay their salaries since the past 16 months.
Sachin Shinde, former faculty member and coordinator of the Samnvay Samiti, said, “At least 800 faculty members filed a petition in the high court on March 8, 2018. On May 8, 2018, the high court ordered the institute to not take any action against the petitioner staff. Despite this, the STES management terminated at least 300 petitioners and transferred 80 staff members to colleges in remote areas like Lonavla, Solapur and Pandharpur.”
He added, “Due to this harassment, at least 100 senior staff members resigned. The institute has not paid us for the past 16 months. The pending salaries of the petitioner staff is ~60 crore, of which, ~30 crore has been paid. However, apart from the petitioner staff, the institute has not paid 8,000 faculty members and their pending salary is ~200 crore and pending gratuity is 100 crore.”
According to Shinde, the transferred faculty members went to Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) to seek a solution. SPPU ordered the cancellation of their transfers, however, the management instead of cancelling the order, challenged the petition in the high court.
