Payment of ‘illegal’ allowances to university staff stopped

The Sindh government has issued orders to immediately stop the payment of unauthorised and illegal allowances being made under various heads to the employees of all government universities in the province.

These orders have been issued by the chief minister, the controlling authority of public universities in the province, and in this regard, the department of universities and boards has also received a directive for all public universities on Thursday.

According to the vice-chancellor of a university in Sindh, the chief minister of Sindh has said that these illegal and unapproved allowances are causing financial losses, so the vice-chancellors of government universities have been asked to hold a special meeting on this matter and decide on it on a rational basis keeping in view the ground realities.

In this regard, the Sindh Higher Education Commission has been asked to submit its report keeping in view all these matters in the context of the orders of the chief minister.

Read Universities entrenched in financial issues

In the letter of the department of universities and boards, the allowances that have been declared illegal or unapproved include allowances given under 16 titles, including orderly allowance, leave encashment, Eid greeting, directorship or chairpersonship, computer allowance, deanship allowance, technical allowance, teaching allowance, health professional allowance, basic medical studies allowance, telephone attendant allowance, cook allowance, security guard, sanitation allowance and others.

The letter further states that it is necessary for the vice-chancellors to take any future decision in this regard keeping in view the financial situation of the concerned university as such allowances are causing a financial burden amounting to billions of rupees on the universities.

It may be mentioned that this letter has been issued at a time when the employees of Karachi University have been on strike for several days, gathering in the university’s lawn and protesting against the administration every day.

On Thursday, the protest was also attended by the leader of SPLA and a political figure.