Chennai, Nov 23 (IANS): Special Officers and Liaison Officers of the prestigious Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu observed a day-long fast on Wednesday against the move of the university to re-designate them as Assistant Section officers.

The officials alleged that around 650 of them were to be re-designated as Assistant Section officers due to "financial crunch".

A senior Special Officer of the Annamalai University told IANS: "The university administration has passed a resolution at the meeting on November 11 to re-designate Special Officers and Liasion Officers as Assistant Section officers. The University has pointed out financial crunch as the reason for re-designation of posts and around 650 officers will be affected."

He said the move was against Section 58 (3) (e) of the Annamalai University Act, adding the university has 2,736 teaching staff and 8,443 non-teaching staff which was much more than the sanctioned strength.

He said that the sanctioned strength is 657 teaching staff and 1,100 non-teaching staff.

He also said Annamalai University has put on hold the promotions of Special Officers and Liason Officers since 2018 and added that the Tamil Nadu government must immediately intervene and ensure that the pending promotions take place in the university.