Mysore/Mysuru: Urging for the fulfilment of various demands, guest lecturers staged a protest at Oval Grounds, opposite Crawford Hall, the administrative building of University of Mysore in city yesterday.

The protest was organised under the aegis of Government PU Colleges Guest Lecturers Coordination Committee, demanding the recruitment of guest faculty, without differentiating them under University Grants Commission (UGC) and Non-UGC norms. The seniority in service, teaching experience should be taken into consideration during the recruitment process. The legal hurdles should be solved at the Government level. Most importantly, an Expert Committee should be constituted to frame permanent rules for recruitment of guest faculty. The lump sum amount should be increased from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh, the protesters demanded.

Over 11,000 lecturers in 432 Government First Grade Colleges across the State, are working for monthly honorarium. However, the High Court order dated Sept.5, 2024, over the writ application sounds a death knell to the guest faculty.  Following this, 5,353 guest faculty will be deprived of jobs. Hence, the UGC norms followed in the recruitment of guest faculty should not be applicable to those working prior to 2018.

Earlier, the agitators had plans to march towards Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s residence at T.K. Layout in the city to lay siege, only to be foiled by the Policemen, at the Oval Grounds itself. Following this, the guest faculty have decided to stage a protest at the same venue, as the Police have promised to arrange time for a meeting with the CM.

 State President of Government PU Colleges Guest Lecturers Coordination Committee Dr. Somashekar H. Shimoggi,  Organising Secretary G.S. Nagaraj Maddur, Hanumanthesh, Arif, State Women’s Convener Harshita, Chandrakanth Bidar, Dr. Diwakar K.R. Nagar, Noor Ahmed Kolar, Suneetha and others were present.