TISS revokes mass termination of staff as Tata Edu Trust assures fund for salary

TISS said all the 55 faculty and 60 non-teaching staff, who were terminated, were appointed under programmes funded by the Tata Education Trust and were on a contractual basis

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai withdrew the termination of its 105 teaching and non-teaching staff on Sunday, a day after the decision courted a controversy.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.

A statement from TISS said, “It is important to clarify that all 55 faculty and 60 non-teaching staff were appointed under programmes funded by the Tata Education Trust (TET) and were on a contractual basis with the exact programme period.”

The TISS registrar said that following ongoing discussions, TET has provided assurance that resources will be made available to TISS to resolve this issue.

“TET has committed to releasing funds for the salaries of TET project or programme faculty and non-teaching staff. The letter issued on June 28 addressing all TET programme faculty and non-teaching staff concerned is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect. They are requested to continue their work, and salaries will be released as soon as the TET Support Grant is received by the institute,” said the statement.

After the June 28 letter, the Progressive Students Forum (PSF), a students’ collective from the TISS, in a post on social media platforms said that the mass termination is expected to create a significant shortage of both teaching and non-teaching staff at the institute.

PSF at TISS strongly condemned the mass termination and called for immediate action. The body demanded that the TISS administration revoke the terminations and collaborate with the Union government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to secure funding for these positions. They also demanded urgent discussions with the Trust to reinstate funding and to protect these jobs.

TISS, established in 1936 as a Deemed University and fully funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of the Government of India, is currently governed by the TISS Society in accordance with the UGC mandate.