Ratan Tata has managed to save the jobs of the 115 employees of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) who were about to be rendered jobless. The 55 faculty members and 60 non-teaching employees who were working at TISS on contract were dismissed because TISS could not pay their salaries. The Institute was short of funds to pay their salaries because the financial aid from the Tata Education Trust had not been extended. Now, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Education Trust has come forward and extended the grant bringing much relief to the staff.
Earlier, it was reported that with no grant coming from the Trust, there was no way TISS could pay the employees, which is why it had resorted to laying them off.
The dismissal had come as a shock for the faculty members of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences who were reportedly occupied with admissions and had also worked hard to give the syllabus a makeover in line with the New Education Policy.
The dismissals had not affected the employees who were on the rolls, as they were being paid by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Only those on contract, some of whom had worked for over a decade, were laid off as their salaries were reliant on funds released by the Trust.
Unlike what the staff felt, the authorities at TISS had denied any link of the dismissals with the involvement of the Centre or change in UGC regulations.
