Court freezes staff pay over scholar's fellowship

The Kerala High Court has ordered the suspension of salaries for the Vice Chancellor and Registrar of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, until the overdue fellowship of a doctoral scholar is disbursed. Justice D K Singh criticised the university's failure to pay the sanctioned fellowship, stating, "If the Vice Chancellor of the University is being paid salary regularly, there can be no justification for non-payment of the petitioner's fellowship."
The petitioner, Aadhi, a 26-year-old PhD scholar and recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, approached the court after enduring a delay of over a year in receiving the fellowship. Aadhi, who identifies as part of the queer community, highlighted the financial hardship caused by the delay, noting that the fellowship is their sole source of income.
The university attributed the delay to financial difficulties. However, the court dismissed this explanation, pointing out that the government had already released ₹2.62 crore to the university, raising questions about the institution's financial management. The court directed the university to clear the pending fellowship within a month and ensure regular payments thereafter.
The fellowship, amounting to ₹12,000, is provided to students who do not receive other scholarships. Protests by student organisations, including AKRSA and SFI, had previously led to the disbursal of fellowship amounts for the period from December 2023 to December 2024. The current dues pertain to January 2025 onwards. Open URL