In a significant decision, the Union government has decided to subject the teachers at Jamia Millia Islamia University for a “periodic review” of performances to determine whether their employment should continue or if they should be retired ‘prematurely’.
According to the reports, following a Union government notification, the Jamia authorities have issued an order to subject the teachers for a periodic review of their performance under the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972.
However, the order by the university authorities has not gone well within the Jamia Teachers’ Association, who have now criticised the notification saying that the CCS Rules did not apply to university teachers and demanded that the order be withdrawn.
Jamia Teachers’ Association opposes the order, demands its withdrawal
The notification was sent to all deans of faculties, heads of departments, directors of centres and all senior administrative officials including chief proctor, dean of students’ welfare, and controller of examinations.
The JTA had also called a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the order. After the meeting, the JTA secretary Mohammad Irfan Qureshi said that the entire JTA EC believed that Jamia Millia Islamia University (a central university) is an autonomous body where CCS rule cannot be implemented. He added that JTA demanded the Registrar, JMI to withdraw the said impugned office order with immediate effect.
Echoing similar sentiments, Registrar Nazim Husain Al-Jafri said, “A government notification had come in this regard, so we issued it. We haven’t scheduled anything (review) right now. But CCS Rules can be adopted by universities if they want. I’m not aware of the teachers’ association position. This is our internal matter.”
Jamia Milia Islamia – a university clouded by controversies
A few weeks earlier, Jamia Millia University had stoked another controversy after it had arbitrarily terminated 23 employees belonging to the Valmiki community.
A video of sanitation workers from Jamia had gone viral on social media platforms. One of the terminated employees identified as Rajesh Kumar Valmiki made a heart-wrenching appeal against Jamia’s administration’s decision to terminate 23 Sanitation workers’ employment.
Rajesh Kumar Valmiki had said that 23 Sanitation Workers had been removed from their posts by the Jamia authorities. He had alleged that the authorities have told that they have got orders from Ministry of Human Resources (HRD) to remove 23 out of 132 sanitation workers.
This is not the first time Jamia has found itself deep in controversies. The foundation of Jamia Milia Islamia was laid by Maulana Mahmud Hasan. One of its founders was Mohammad Ali Jauhar who dreamed of Hindustan Darul Islam and had opposed Vande Mataram in 1923. During the anti-CAA protests, Jamia students were allegedly involved in demonstrations and violence.
