Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A team from civil court reached Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) on Friday for seizing the office of vice-chancellor over non-payment of Rs 1.16 crore to nearly 35 employees hired on hourly basis but it had to stop the action after the university administration showed a stay order from the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Hourly basis employees of Institute of Engineering and Technology, an entity of DAVV, had moved court stating that they had been working with the institution for over 10 years but they have not been given benefits of increase in wages, provident fund etc.
They had alleged that their wages are lesser than the minimum wage fixed by the collector. The plaintiffs had urged court to order DAVV to increase their wages and provide benefit of provident fund and other perks. The court had ruled in favour of the employees and had directed the university to pay an amount of Rs 1.16 crore to the plaintiffs.
Challenging the order, the DAVV had moved High Court which stayed the lower court’s order. However, the HC ordered DAVV to pay Rs 50,000 each to the employees. As per HC order, the DAVV had given Rs 50,000 each to employees appointed on an hourly basis.
The civil court administration office sent a team to DAVV for seizing VC and other offices for not complying with its order. The civil court team reached the university and started seizing the VC’s office at a time when the vice-chancellor Prof Renu Jain was inking an MoU with Association of Certified Accountants head Sajit Khan.
The university officers showed the copy of High Court’s order to the team from the civil court but to no avail. To this, a team from the university reached the civil court to show the HC’s order. “I went to the civil court and showed the High Court’s stay order after which the seizure drive at the university was stopped,” said DAVV registrar Ajay Verma.
