The Teachers and Staff Welfare Association of the University of Madras (UoM) on February 29, Thursday, threatened to go on an indefinite strike from March 1, alleging government failure in addressing the financial crisis faced by the institution. The teaching faculties and staff of the UoM said the strike will continue till the government takes appropriate measures to address the financial issues of the varsity.
The strike was announced a week after the association members staged a sit-in hunger strike on February 23 urging the government to take over the institution's financial affairs and to provide salary, pension, and other employee benefits to the staff and teaching faculties.
In a press statement, the association said the financial troubles of the university increased after many affiliated arts and science colleges and research institutes became self-finance institutes.
The institute faced a severe financial crisis after the Income Tax Department froze 37 fixed deposit accounts of the UoM citing unpaid tax dues on February 6. The I-T Department issued a notice to the State Bank of India (SBI) branch in the University's Chepauk campus stating that the UoM failed to pay Rs 424 crore in tax and penalties, due for the assessment years 2017-2018 to 2020-2021.
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An institution can be considered a government institution only if it receives 50% of its funds from the government as subsidies and if so, it is subsequently exempted from income tax. For the past few years, due to audit objections, funding from the government has been reduced, and since 2018, the state government has stopped releasing funds for such institutions.
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