UoP V-C is quite the ladies' man

Female staff at varsity welcome R K Shevgaonkar's decision to double maternity leave, say it's another example of his women-friendly moves

Female staff at varsity welcome R K Shevgaonkar's decision to double maternity leave, say it's another example of his women-friendly moves

In a move that has won him much appreciation, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Pune (UoP) RK Shevgaonkar used his discretionary powers to bring a change in relevant sections of Maharashtra Universities Act and increase the duration of maternity leave from 90 days to 180 days.


Mum's the word: Vice-Chancellor R K Shevgaonkar has increased the
maternity leave for the UoP employees from 90 days to 180 days

According to M L Jadhav, registrar of UoP, the state government had issued a government resolution on March 6, 2010 to increase maternity leave for all women employees of universities and affiliated colleges. "We then presented this proposal of extending leave in the University Senate where it was approved. According to the procedure, we had sent a proposal to the Chancellor for approval before making amends in the statute or laws that govern the varsity. However, it has been over a year and no communication came from his end in this regard," said Jadhav.

Hence after consultation, the Vice-Chancellor R K Shevgaonkar used his discretionary powers and issued a circular dated April 13, 2011 that said he was authorising amendment of relevant sections of the act to bring about extension of maternity leave for all women employees of the varsity and affiliated colleges.
Despite repeated attempts, Shevgaonkar wasn't available for comment.

Welcome move
While women employees said that they had been getting 180 days leave on case-to-case basis even earlier for the past few months, this move, they said, showed Shevgaonkar's positive attitude towards women.

Madhavi Reddy, head of department of communication studies, said she appreciated the Vice-Chancellor's act. "It shows that he is sensitive and respectful towards women. He has also taken a few other decisions recently which reflect his attitude. For example, recently a professor complained of harassment by her senior and the head of department was replaced immediately. Besides that, during his tenure many facilities have been improved like the cr che for children of women employees," she said.

Madhuri Tonde, office assistant at Department of Women Studies, too appreciated the Vice-Chancellor's move.
"A maternity leave of three months is not enough, as the baby is still too young to be left without maternal care. Either the mother has to quit or she can't give full attention to her job. It's a good decision to extend the maternity leave. Even the facilities at the cr che that our department manages have improved considerably, and professors can leave their children here without any tension," she said.