With UGC grant in, fired TISS faculty could be reinstated

Following a year's extension given to three centres, faculty members are likely to be taken back based on a performance

Twenty-five faculty members were terminated due to lack of funding

Taking a u-turn, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) administration has decided to reinstate some of the 25 faculty members, who were terminated due to lack of funding. They would be taken back only after a review of their performances. The decision comes after the University Grants Commission (UGC) granted a year's extension to three centers of the institute – Centre of Excellence for Human Rights Education, Advance Centre for Women's Studies and Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies – which were earlier subjected to closure.

Students confused
The institute's Director communicated the decision to the students through an official email on Friday, following which there was a lot of confusion. Students expressed concern and raised questions regarding how the centres would run with lack of faculty members. The Director would meet the students next week and clarify their doubts regarding the decision. However, following the new development, rumours are doing rounds that the abrupt move to terminate the faculty members was just a way to get rid of some of them.

mid-day's report on March 28

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a faculty member from the institute said, "As everything happened within a short span of time, doubts remain. UGC funding has never been a very smooth and on-time process anyway. There was no need to issue termination orders all of a sudden. There clearly appears to be some agenda behind it."

How will the centers run?
When asked about the lack of faculty members, a student said, "No centre can run without faculty members. As 25 of them have been removed all of a sudden, we need clarity on what happens next. Even if UGC has extended funding for a year, the institute needs to know how to run the centres. There is a lot of confusion regarding this matter."
President of the TISS student's union, Rahul Advani said, "All are looking forward to meeting the Director next week. We hope to get clarity on how the centres will function." Even after repeated attempts to contact the institute Director S Parsuraman, he remained unavailable for comments.

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