Dailymirror 03/08/2011
The voluntary administrative positions of University teachers would depend on the outcome of the case in the Appeal Courts today, sources said.
FUTA President Dr. Ranjith Nirmal Dewasiri speaking to Daily Mirror today stated that since the case in Appeal Courts and the prevalent issue between the academics and Vice Chancellors were linked, they would most likely take a decision concerning the situation following the outcome of the court case.
During early June, the Court of Appeals issued an interim order to the Department Heads in the Wayamba, Sri Jayawardenapura and Ruhunu universities, restraining them from accepting the resignations rendered by academics during end of May.
The interim orders were issued following the hearing of three writ applications filed by students in the three universities.
“We are attempting to come up with a practical solution to the current situation since we believe there is no need to further delay the restoration of normalcy in universities,” Dr. Dewasiri said adding that there were several urgent activities that needed to be carried out including the release of results for the final year students and resuming examinations that were disrupted due to the trade union actions.
“The VCs are still not ready to accept the resignations rendered by the academics in May. Our position concerning the current situation hasn’t changed - we are expecting the VCs to issue fresh appointment letters to the resigned academics. However we hope that we will be able to work up a permanent solution to the situation in an official level soon,” he added.
Speaking further he said that although they haven’t arrived at an agreement with the VCs yet, certain practical arrangements have been made in certain universities informally to resume activities.
The university academics resigned from their voluntary administrative positions on May 3 as part of a series of trade union actions to urge the government to grant them an adequate salary increase. (By Lakna Paranamanna)
2 comments:
The acceptance of resignation of the Head of Department is not required by the University Act. That means the VCs are following the abandoned circular 956. Head of Department is almost a full time post. The full time officers like VCs, Deans and Heads cannot do teaching and research. If they accept these position mean they have to sacrifice their academic career. So they are voluntary positions. FUTA must reiterate this when instructing the members to resume their work. Remember we cannot withdraw resignation letters. Best option is to re-assume the work.
Yes, re-assuming the work as Heads would be better than other options. (Note however that heads should not go away from teaching/academic work!)
-Jayantha
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