University Grands Commission must bear burden of 7th pay revision

UGC must bear burden of 7th pay revision

MUMBAI: Teachers' unions in Maharashtra have demanded that the Centre bear the entire burden of implementing the 7th Pay Commission recommendations for a decade after it is implemented.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has appointed the new pay revision panel, under the chairmanship of professor V S Chauhan, that has been visiting various states and holding consultation meetings with stakeholders. While in Pune, the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers' Organization (MFUCTO) demanded that the UGC make it mandatory to provide 100% central assistance for the additional expenditure for implementing the new pay revision.

"The manner in which the 6th pay commission was implemented by Maharashtra has led to hundreds of court cases," said MFUCTO president Tapati Mukhopadhyay. "Thousands of teachers are battling the anomalies and discrimination caused by decisions of the state government in the matters of arrears, pension, gratuity, PhD increments, CAS benefits for those appointed during 1991-2000."

Among the other demands, faculty said all existing vacancies in colleges and universities must be filled immediately prior to implementation of 7th pay revision. "Only 50% of vacancies in aided colleges are allowed to be filled by the state government. But posts are based on the 1998 staff justification calculation and thus, the required posts to be filled is much more than 50%," added Mukhopadhyay.

In many cases, posts are either kept vacant or filled on contractual or clock-hour basis for which no grant is sanctioned, said faculty members. "In self-financing colleges, almost all posts are filled on contractual basis. This is affecting the quality of higher education," Mukhopadhyay said, while making a presentation to the pay review panel.

In several instances, teachers aggrieved that there was a delay in approving rosters of institutions, thereby affecting timely regular recruitment and proper implementation of reservation policy. The period of probation continues to be two years in several varsities.

Faculty federations said that unlike the previous salary revision, arrears should be dispersed without delay and in one instalment while implementing the 7th UGC pay revision scheme. Also, contractual and ad hoc teachers who have worked for more than two years as on January 2016, should be absorbed as regular faculty through proper statutory procedure and their service be counted for all purposes.

Mukhopadhyay said the age of superannuation should be, uniformly and unconditionally, 65 years for university and college teachers and principals. "It is imperative that UGC prescribed pay scales be made legal right of each teacher working in the varsity system across all institutions, including self-financing institutions and private universities," she added. Currently, there is lack of parity not only in pay, but also in allowances, incentive increments for PhD/ MPhil, age of retirement among others between teachers and directors of physical education and librarians.

This article was published in Times Of India