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Chennai, Nov 9 (IANS) Guest lecturers serving in government colleges in Tamil Nadu have decided to approach the Supreme Court against the state higher education department for failure to implement the Madras High Court direction mandating permanent appointments.
According to V. Thangaraj, state president of the All Tamil Nadu Government Colleges UGC-Qualified Honorary Lecturers Association, 1,146 honorary lecturers, who participated in the certificate verification process in February 2021 following the government order, are still awaiting regular appointments despite the High Court’s clear verdict in their favour.
“The government’s inaction has once again forced us to seek legal recourse,” Thangaraj said.
At present, about 7,800 honorary lecturers are working on consolidated salary basis in 171 arts, science and education colleges of Tamil Nadu.
Thangaraj said the association will urge the top court to not only ensure permanent jobs for the 1,146 lecturers who have completed the verification process, but also direct the government to pay all guest lecturers as per UGC norms, which set the minimum salary at Rs 50,000 per month.
Currently, guest lecturers from Tamil Nadu are paid Rs 25,000 per month, one of the lowest in the country. Thangaraj pointed to huge disparities between states: “In Kerala, guest lecturers are paid Rs 50,000; in Puducherry, Rs 40,000, and in Haryana, where ‘equal pay for equal work’ is followed, it is Rs 57,700. Punjab and Delhi also pay around Rs 50,000. But in Tamil Nadu, despite having highly qualified faculty, The wages are very low.”
Citing a recent order of the Madras High Court issued in October 2025, Thangaraj said the court had strongly criticized the government’s policy of appointing UGC-qualified and doctorate-holding teachers as “guest lecturers” on meager consolidated salaries.
“The court had clearly observed that these teachers, though labeled as temporary, are performing all the duties of regular lecturers and are being exploited in the garb of honorary appointments,” he said.
The association plans to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, seeking both implementation of the High Court judgment and a revised salary structure for all honorary lecturers in higher education institutions in the state.
–IANS
AL/DPB