Hindu College Teachers’ Agitation against the arbitrary actions of the Governing Body
Dear friends and colleagues,
In a post on this forum, I apprised the fellow members about the decision of Hindu College Staff Association to protest against the arbitrary decision of the college GB to extend the warden’s tenure without assigning any reason. Subsequent to that the Principal went to court demanding permanent ban on the association activities, regarding which Navin Gaur posted couple of links of newspaper reports. In the middle of healthy discussion on the matter on basis of principles and policies, In order to divert and diffuse the issue, 2 respected members of the group, acting as agent provocateurs, raised the issue of last years’ struggles against the GB’s attitude to treat the college as private property. One of them is from Hindu College and had been speaking in his master’s voice as the loyal servant of few GB members.
The 42 days long relay hunger strike by the Association authorized by the unanimous mandate of the members (even the couple of disruptors echoing the GB line, including the said respected, member of the group did not record their dissent) with the active support of the DUTA leadership was well reported in the papers and foiled the nefarious designs of the GB and their local agents to allot the trust houses of the college as private landlords. Many DUTA activists of the group who supported and participated in our struggle will testify. As a result of that struggle, many trust sponsored members of the GB including the Chairman, Punj had to leave the GB, as they were its members for years in contravention of UGC provisions regarding it. Therefore we have a truncated GB headed by infamous Cobalt case accused Prof. Rooplal. I do not know whether an accused under IPC can hold the statutory positions? The VC must know it better.
In a debate clichéd method of disrupting a healthy, democratic discussion; divert the attention and diffuse the issue,is diversion of debate on an unrelated issue . The said respected member, while accusing me to evade discussing the issue, has brought in the issue of last year’s agitation to divert the attention from the on-going struggle of the college teachers, though not unrelated, as opposition to the arbitrary actions of GB/Principal is the common denominator of the both. He has been creating confusion by misrepresenting the facts, practically acting as the spokesperson of the GB in the sense of airing-sharing their views inside-outside Staff Association/Council and unsuccessfully trying to create a senior-junior divide. As, I was, circumstantially (the particular circumstantiality is a matter of separate discourse), interim President of the Staff Association during the long drawn ‘selfishly motivated’ agitation by ‘vested interests’ (although the decision to protest was unanimous with no note of dissent), it is imperative on me to clarify and put the record straight.
I am copy-pasting his 6 comments with charges and accusation against the Association, the agitation led by it and against me:
1. “everyone is so obsessed with diversion of 'main issue' in one's comments. But will the community of DU teachers ever take notice of the mother of all diversions in Hindu College- the House Rent issue of the Trust maintained residences in the college? To be radical is to go to the roots. And there you will find the fulcrum of Hindu College politics.....the masterkey to understand 'resident of profit' issue, warden issue and so on! how long can these agitational pretensions masquerade the basic fault-line of Hindu College politics!!
2. more than thirty teachers applied for a proposal of constructing new residences some time ago at the college and quite a few at 100% HRA. And that's the way it should be. why should a teacher's house rent be subsidesd by the GB in order to allow them to pocket the substantial balance? And how genuine and credible would any agitation by the same set of teachers in the forefront be? Dont surf on skin of the issue. Pierce deep into it and you will see the nodes and the interseces of the issue
3. why is it that in the recent past agitations begin over self interest issues and soon discovers a general issue in order to widen its support base. one does not need to labour very hard in order to understand the strategy behind this. the moment u encounter the real stuff u evade it. have the guts to surrender your HRA for the house that has been allotted to you. this issue can not be held privy to ur comments and reponses. you are welcome not to respond to this. do not monopolize the audience of the cyber space..
4. why is it that in the recent past agitations begin over self-interest issues and soon discovers a general issue in order to widen its support base. one does not need to labour very hard in order to understand the strategy behind this. the moment u encounter the real stuff u evade it. have the guts to surrender your HRA for the house that has been allotted to you. this issue can not be held privy to ur comments and reponses. you are welcome not to respond to this. do not monopolize the audience of the cyber space.
5. You and your interest group were agitating to allot these houses at the rent rate that you are enjoying! If you have compromised with your dignity as a teacher vis a vis the GB dont you please nip in bud the attemt to resurrect teacher's dignity who volunteer to forego their HRA in lieu of future allotments.
6. Well said Navin. Who is averse to the staff association fund being utilised to foot the litigation cost- that too one in which it had no option but to defend? I can sense the beginning of another cover-firing for the smooth perpetuation of the rent arrangement between the residents and the GB in this payment of legal bill non-issue!!It would be of interest for you Naveen to know that when the Association was discussing GB's non-payment of the required contribution to the college, i was the one who had suggested that the teachers of Hindu College collectively contribute a portion of the GB's deficit from our salary as a token gesture. Struggles of this sort require falling on one's prized resource - and for us that is our moral strength. Such a move could have clinched the issue in no time but dear who wants to solve the problem!! Its a symbiotic relation between the residents and the GB!! It's here that the 'agitation' is robbed of its moral content. Mere rhetoric and organisational skill can never be a good substitute for the moral strength of an agitation.”
His charges and accusations can be summarized as:
A. “To be radical is to attack the root” (Marx) and the root of all the problems in Hindu College is the issue of the rent of Trust-houses of the Hindu College.
B. Some teachers applied for construction of new houses but the agitation by the Association for the allotment of vacant houses on agreed terms and conditions with me as the President sabotaged it and that the resident teachers are pocketing “extra” money on the subsidy of the GB.
C. I manipulated the Staff Association to further my “personal” interest in the name of teachers’ interest and that I have lowered the dignity of teaching morality by not paying full HRA and thus spoiling his chance of getting a house on full HRA.
D. His suggestion of deficit of GB contribution to the college( It has not been paying its 5% contribution for over a decade except the ‘license fee’ from the trust houses, which it illegitimately shows as its income) should be made up by contribution from teachers salary was rejected.
The last point does not need any response. I shall try to clarify his other points very briefly. All the documents/communications/newspaper clippings are well documented in the Association files and accessible to anyone whosoever aspires to.
The Issue
There are 17 teachers’ quarters in Hindu College are known as Trust Houses, some of whom date back to 1910s, when the colonial capital was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. Since shifting of the college to its present location, the Trust or the Governing Body did not renovate these houses and the college allotted them to the teachers on a mutually agreed ‘license fee’. The houses were/are renovated and repaired on their own cost by the allottees that have to maintain it by him/her-self. Almost all the residents have spent substantial amount on renovation/repair and maintenance of their quarters.
With every new pay commission the license fee is reset by an agreement between the Trust members of the GB and Resident Teachers. Last agreement was signed in May 2010 which stipulates 40% of the HRA as the license fee. In the last week of May when teachers mounted demand for allotment of 3 vacant houses, the GB overstepping its brief arrogated Principal’s power and put a notice advertising like a private land lord the availability of the houses for the highest bidder for 5 years. (The funny notice is documented in the Staff Association records).
Yes we do “pocket” our full HRA that is none of the concern of the Trust which should concern itself with the agreed rent. After their design to rent the quarters to their favorites in an hurriedly called the last GB meeting was foiled by the agitating teachers with the active help of DUTA, their agents in the college became extra vocal in their attack on resident teachers accusing them of usurpers. Fortunately, number of such teachers did not cross four. THE GB does not give a rent receipt, so the entire HRA is taxable.
The myth and reality of HRA
Let the HRA be x
License fee (Rent) = 40% of x = 40x/100
A. Income tax on HRA = 33% of x = 33x/100
C. Educational tax on HRA = 5% of 33x/100 = 33x/2000
A+B+C = 1493x/2000 = 0.75x (Approximately)
If x = Rs.16000 (suppose)
Then the total deduction from HRA = Rs 12000
This means a residnt teacher saves Rs. 4000 from HRA out of which he/she has to spend for recurring maintenance (Gardner; electricians; plumber; sweeper; repair; whitewash etc.) and periodic renovation. The vacant houses would need renovation costing not less than couple of lacs to make them livable. Many teachers have spent 5-6 lacs and more to renovate their quarters into proper shape.
GB proposal
(Orchestrated by the said member ad his henchmen)
I. Rent: 100% HRA = x
II. License fee: 10% of the basic = 10% of 100x/30 = x/3
III. Income tax on HRA = 33x/100
(There will be no income tax relief on HRA as it will charged as the license fee without rent receipt)
IV. Education cess =33x/2000
Total = x+x/3+33x/100 +33x/2000 = 18098x/6000
If x= Rs.16000
Then the rent proposed by GB (including taxes) = Rs 26,830 (approx.)
Our agitation is against arbitrary and authoritarian intervention of GB, which is on record claiming the college to be a private college.
Association’s Proposal
The resident teachers shall pay the full HRA if the trust renovates all the houses to appropriately livable standard, takes care of maintenance and income tax and reimburses minimum estimated amount spent by the resident teachers. The proposal was not accepted by the then GB that looks at the college as a profit making real estate.
• Attributing selfish motive to the movement is a dangerous fiction. None of those who were/are on the forefront are beneficiaries of the main demand of the agitation – allotment of the vacant houses to the aspiring candidates on the basis of agreed terms and condition, as has been the convention. Most of them either already have got houses in the college on agreed terms( Ratanlal; Poonam Sethi; Achla Tandon; Tarun Saint; Archna Agrawal; Jagdish Chander; PK Vijayan (Present President of the Association); Jay Inderpal Singh; Dr. Anuradha Sharma; Dr. Suchitra Gupta; Dr Debashree Goswami), OR are too senior to apply now (Dr Vaid, Dr, Bakre…..) OR too junior in the row (Sumit Nandan, Rajesh, Sachin Vashisht, Nrendra, Arvind Chaudhary……..) to be beneficiary of the fulfillment of this particular demand.
• The GB in connivance with some faculty members distributed a questionnaire asking preferences of types of houses teachers want in order to break the unity of the association, as the GB is not paying even its mandatory contribution towards college and has not spent single pence towards renovation, repair, maintenance of the houses since the college shifted to its present location, few of them were just ruins. All these expenses are born by teachers from their own pocket. We have been demanding the blueprint of their proposal but to no avail.
Present agitation is against the arbitrary extension to the warden and summoning of Police and going to court against the association by the acting Principal, who spends most of his time at the concerned warden’s residence.
I sincerely request to all colleagues to support the Hindu College Staff Association agitation against arbitrary and autocratic attitude of the GB and the acting Principal, for a healthy, corruption free Hindu College campus.
