KU non-teaching staff end protest on VC’s assurances

Karachi

Protesting non-issuance of leave encashment forms since Thursday, non-teaching staff of the University of Karachi (KU) called off its protest after the varsity’s vice chancellor assured them of resolving the matter at the earliest, on Fiday.

Circulated before the onset of Ramazan, the employees would fill in the forms and have them verified by their section heads in order to be issued cash against their due holidays during the first or second week of Ramazan, informed a protestor, Adil Shakeel Ahmed.

He said the KU Employees Welfare Association had been discussing the matter with the varsity’s administration for the past few weeks but did not get any hopeful reply after which it was decided to hold a ‘pen-down’ strike against the administration.

The protestors chanted slogans against director finance, Tariq Kaleem, and urged the varsity’s VC to direct him to arrange for funding.

They advised that the director finance should be asked to prepare feasible proposals in order to generate proper funding so the university was not dependent on government’s grants.

The non-teaching staff also demanded implementation of time-pay-scale rule approved by the Syndicate almost a decade ago.

KU Registrar Prof Dr Moazam Ali Khan while speaking to The News said the VC had advised the protestors to call their protest off and hold negotiations.

He mentioned that the varsity’s financial crunch had made it difficult for the varsity to continue issuing leave encashment.

The VC held a meeting with the KU Employees Welfare Association general secretary, Zia-ul-Haq, and assured him of getting the matter resolved as soon as possible, he further stated.

Haq confirmed that the VC agreed to circulate the leave encashment forms from Monday among all concerned employees, hence, the protest was called off.

He said the Dr Qaiser assured that all concerned people would have received their respective leave encashment by 20th Ramazan.

The VC was also reported to have agreed deducting only five percent amount from their provident fund instead of the proposed 20 percent, he further said.

He further informed that Dr Qaiser further assured that all retired officers working at the varsity would be discharged from their designations by the end of this month.

“The union wants them to be discharged from their current positions so that huge amounts being spent on their salaries could be saved,” Haq added.