Pvt institutions told to pay salaries to faculty on time

NEW DELHI: At a time when the nationwide lockdown has affected the lives of many, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has directed private engineering colleges and other technical institutions to pay salaries to their faculty and staff on time during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The directive by the technical education regulator comes after it received complaints about certain institutions not paying salaries for even the months of February and March.

“We have been receiving complaints that some of the institutions have not paid the salary to teaching and nonteaching staff for the month of March and in some cases even February. Kindly note that this is a national emergency and whole country is under lockdown due to COVID-19, so non-payment of salaries to staff will lead to great stress and even starvation of families,” AICTE Chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe said in a letter to all approved colleges.

“You are requested to ensure that faculty members and staff are paid salaries on time,” he added.

Notably, universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the government at the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Later, a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which was extended till May 17. The AICTE had last month warned engineering colleges and other technical institutions against forcing students to pay fees and non-payment of salaries to staff during the lockdown and directed withdrawal of any terminations made during the period.