University teachers warn of union action over UGC’s interventions

University teachers have warned of definite union action in the coming week if the University Grants Commission did not halt its interventions into university administrations.

FUTA secretary Charudatta Illangasinghe said a new act contains positive measures against making political appointments to vice-chancellor positions.

However, he objected to university senates being empowered to remove deans and heads of departments at will.

Ilangasinghe added PM and education minister Harini Amarasuriya promised to rectify that, but it has since been ignored at the insistence of the UGC chairman.