People's Democracy

MAHARASHTRA

MFUCTO Celebrates Victory for NET/SET Affected Teachers

ON October 9, 2011, the historic and magnificent Convocation Hall of the University of Mumbai was packed with hundreds of members of Bombay University & College Teachers’ Union (BUCTU) and executive committee members of the Maharashtra Federation of University & College Teachers’ Organisations (MFUCTO) who had travelled long distances to attend a public felicitation of a veteran member of parliament, Basudeb Acharia. The occasion was a mass rally of the teachers of Mumbai region (Mumbai city, Thane, Raigadh, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurgh districts), organised by BUCTU on behalf of the MFUCTO to celebrate the massive victory of the NET/SET affected teachers in Maharashtra, appointed from October 1991 to April 2000. Though the university campus lawns have been witness to hundreds of rallies and several court arrest programmes and hunger-strikes by BUCTU for more than four decades, this was the first ever rally of teachers’ union in the Convocation Hall.

Basudeb Acharia specially travelled from Delhi to be present among the teacher leaders and activists of Maharashtra. He has, over a period of one year, become an integral part of the MFUCTO’s battle to bring justice to nearly 10,000 lawfully appointed college teachers of Maharashtra who have suffered 15-20 years of stagnation and humiliation. The University Grants Commission’s (UGC’s) resolution of July 8, 2011 approved the services of the teachers appointed in Maharashtra during September 1991 to April 3, 2000, by exempting them from NET/SET qualification, which was unlawfully imposed on them. The UGC further amended its order on August 26, 2011 by adding that the services of such teachers for all purposes should be counted from the date of their regular appointment. Both the resolutions have been communicated to the Maharashtra government.

The next phase of the movement in Maharashtra will be to get this order implemented by the government of Maharashtra. In fact, just a few hours before holding of the Victory Rally, the MFUCTO executive committee resolved that if the state government fails to comply with the directions of the UGC in respect of the thousands of teachers and ensure that justice is done to them at last without any further loss of time, MFUCTO may be compelled to launch a statewide agitation of teachers.

Speaking on this occasion, Acharia pointed out that while he has worked with various sections of the working class, this was the first time he got associated with a struggle of college and university teachers. Elaborating on the plight of common people resulting from the neo-liberal policies of the central government, he emphasised that the issue of NET/SET affected teachers has to be seen in the broader context of privatisation and globalisation. He further emphasised that the present victory has come as a result of the perseverance, commitment and extreme hard work of MFUCTO leadership; it is important for teachers to realise the importance of a strong and committed organisation like MFUCTO. 

GENESIS OF

THE PROBLEM

By its notification dated September 19, 1991, the UGC introduced NET as qualification for appointment of teachers in the universities and colleges. However, in Maharashtra, NET or SET was not introduced as mandatory entry point qualification condition till December 11, 1999. Meanwhile, thousands of teachers came to be appointed through duly constituted selection committees in the different non-agricultural universities and colleges in Maharashtra on the basis of the then existing qualifications, and their appointments were also approved by the universities concerned. Also, the salaries of such teachers were covered by the grant-in-aid from the state government.

From time to time the government of Maharashtra attempted to thrust NET/SET condition on teachers with retrospective effect from September 19, 1991, in spite of the fact that such retrospective application was illegal and that the Supreme Court of India had specifically ruled that NET/SET was prospective in effect. The period between 1992-99 was therefore of intense struggles by the MFUCTO to protect the services of theses teachers from termination and to get them the benefits of their total service. Though the government of Maharashtra relented and granted protection of service to these teachers with annual increments, the retrospective application of NET/SET qualification was not withdrawn; thereby denying the said teachers long years of their service and experience. This was despite the Maharashtra government’s general order (GR) issued in December 1999 extending the Fifth Pay Commission scales to university and college teachers (after negotiations with the MFUCTO) and making the NET/SET mandatory entry point qualification for the first time. Despite the UGC regulations dated April 4, 2000, the government made it clear that all teachers who were appointed prior to that date through the process of selection committee on the basis of the then existing qualification were not covered by NET/SET.

The period from 2000 onwards saw hundreds of teachers rushing to courts of law, which led to judgements with clear directions to the universities to send their cases to the UGC for claiming exemption from NET/SET. Thousands of cases were forwarded to the UGC for exemption, which the UGC started taking up on individual case to case basis, refusing to give blanket exemption to teachers appointed during 1991-1999. This time consuming process moved in a non-uniform manner across the universities in Maharashtra at snail’s pace, increasing the restlessness and frustration among the affected teachers.

Following the announcement of revised Sixth Pay Commission scales by the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) in December 2008, the MFUCTO launched a militant struggle to force implementation of revised pay scales in Maharashtra and to bring justice to the NET/SET affected teachers. This culminated in the glorious 44-day cease work by 35000 teachers in Maharashtra during which the MFUCTO succeeded in placing the issue of NET/SET affected teachers with equal emphasis as that of pay revision and defeated the design of state bureaucracy to deprive these teachers of revised pay scales. The government further maintained that the power to grant exemption from NET/SET and the date of such exemption rested with the UGC. A four-member committee comprising of two MFUCTO leaders and two state education department officers was agreed to be set up to carry out liaison with UGC for expediting exemptions which would then entitle the affected teachers to vertical mobility in their professional career.

TURNING POINT

IN THE MOVEMENT

A bottleneck was created in March 2010 by an order of MHRD to UGC to stop granting exemptions. This compelled the MFUCTO to take its battle to the MHRD in Delhi. A major exercise was undertaken to mobilise teachers from across the state and 3000 teachers assembled at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in a protest dharna against the MHRD on August 2, 2010. Through the intervention of Brinda Karat, Kapil Sibal, the HRD minister, who until then was arrogantly refusing to speak to the MFUCTO, was compelled to meet a delegation of the MFUCTO. Significantly, the delegation was led by Basudeb Acharia. In his presence, Kapil Sibal had to admit that retrospective application of NET/SET condition to teachers appointed during 1991-1999 in Maharashtra was incorrect and would be rectified.

Unfortunately, there was no progress on this issue. The MFUCTO then organised another dharna in Delhi on December 2, 2010, followed by a three-day continuous sit-in at Jantar-Mantar on March 3-5, 2011. All these actions, too, saw participation by thousands of teachers. In March 2011, MFUCTO met Smt Sushma Swaraj, Shri Sharad Pawar and various MPs from Maharashtra. MFUCTO also kept constant communication with officials of the MHRD and UGC. The tenacity of the MFUCTO’s movement during this period got support also from the All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) and this issue was raised by the AIFUCTO in its meetings with officials of the MHRD and UGC. In spite of this, there was no end to the stalemate, with the UGC reiterating its earlier positions in the said matter in the absence of clear instructions from MHRD.

QUALITATIVE

CHANGE IN MOVEMENT

All this while, Basudeb Acharia worked behind the scenes receiving updates from the MFUCTO on its correspondence and taking persistent follow-up with Kapil Sibal. He addressed every dharna of the MFUCTO in Delhi and assured the teachers of his commitment to resolve their problem. During his two official visits to Mumbai, taking time out of his very busy schedules, he made it a point to meet the MFUCTO office bearers on fresh updates to satisfy queries raised by the MHRD officials. Meanwhile, a High Court order in April 2011 directed the UGC to intimate the Maharashtra government about the date from which counting of service for promotional benefits has to be taken in respect of teachers who have been already granted exemptions from NET/SET by the UGC. A MFUCTO delegation met the UGC officials on June 10, 2011 to reiterate that the said date should be the date of appointment. Subsequently Acharia led this delegation to Kapil Sibal on the same day. This meeting gave a momentum to the final resolution of the issue with the MHRD, instructing the UGC to take up this matter on a priority basis.

The UGC resolved in its meeting on July 8, 2011 to approve appointments of all non-NET/SET teachers appointed in Maharashtra during September 19, 1991 and April 3, 2000 but without touching on the material issue of counting of service for the promotional benefits. The MFUCTO was therefore once again compelled to hold a massive demonstration in New Delhi on August 25, 2011. Addressing this rally, Acharya promised to raise this issue in the zero hour during the monsoon session of the parliament. His brief meeting with Kapil Sibal next day led to the UGC being asked to hold an emergency meeting on  August 26, 2011, in late evening. In this meeting, the UGC finally resolved that the services of such teachers for all purposes should be counted from the date of their regular appointment; and intimated the MFUCTO and the government of Maharashtra of the said decision.

It is pertinent to note that despite various luminaries from Maharashtra, holding high positions in central government and UGC, this matter affecting nearly 10,000 teachers kept hanging fire. Further, the state government too adamantly stonewalled commitments given on the floor of legislative council. This signal achievement is a shining example of what can be achieved with the synergies of the persistent efforts of a genuine people's representative and the mass actions of a militant trade union.