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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, April 25: The Union Cabinet at its meeting today approved new pay scales for Central university and college teachers.
Announcing the pay revision at a press conference, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Murli Manohar Joshi said the new scales were comparable to the scales of IAS Group A and were an improvement on the recommendations of the Rastogi Committee on Teachers8217; Pay Scales appointed by the University Grants Commission.
In the new salary structure, a lecturer will be in the scale of Rs 8,000-275-13,500. Those with a Ph.D degree will be given four advance increments while those with an M.Phil will be given two. A third will be given to the latter if a Ph.D is acquired within two years.
The senior scale for lecturers has been fixed at Rs 10,000-325-15,200. To be eligible for the senior scale, a Ph.D has to have four years experience, M.Phil five years and others six years.
Those with five years as lecturer in the senior scale will be eligible for selection grade lecturer orreader, which has been fixed at Rs 12,000-375-18,000. For reader, a Ph.D degree is a must. Those with five years as Reader will be given selection grade of Rs 14,000-400-18,300.
Readers with five years in selection grade will be given Professors grade of Rs 16,400-450-20,000. Senior Professors and Pro-Vice Chancellors have been placed in the scale of Rs 18,400-500-22,400 and Vice-Chancellor8217;s salary has been fixed at Rs 25,000.
The new scales will be made applicable with retrospective effect from January 1, 1996 and the arrears will be paid in one instalment, Joshi said.
He, however, declined to specify when the arrears will be paid. The revised pay scales, including the arrears and pension, will cost the exchequer an additional amount of Rs 277.60 crore during 1998-99 for payment to Central university teachers alone, he added.
The liability towards payment for state university and college teachers will be Rs 1,974 crore. Thus the total additional burden on account of university and college teacherspay revision would be Rs 2,251.60 crore if state governments also decided to revise the pay scales of teachers during the current year.
The salary structure of university and college teachers was due for revision following the recomendations of the Fifth Pay Commission for government and semi-government employees.
Joshi hoped that the teaching community will respond positively to the new pay scales and make all efforts to improve the quality of higher education. In this context, he said that during discussions with representatives of teachers8217; organisations it had been agreed to evolve a code of conduct for teachers with a self-regulatory mechanism. The code will be evolved by the teaching community, he added.
DUTA unhappy
Delhi University teachers8217; bodies expressed resentment over the revised pay scales announced on Saturday, saying that they were not in conformation with the Unversity Grants Commission UGC recommendations.
Delhi University Teachers Association DUTA president Ram Oberoisaid, 8220;It is the Human Resource Department8217;s imaginary concept,8221; adding DUTA would not allow dilution in its demand. Oberoi also criticised the government for introducing 20 per cent quota for senior reader, thus denying the reader8217;s promotion as professor. 8220;The HRD minister8217;s earlier commitment to maintain University8217;s autonomy also suffered a jolt, as UGC is being allowed to intervene in the framing of eligibility for promotion to a next cadre,8221; he said.
Academics for Action and Development AAD also expressed anger. Urging DUTA leadership to reject the announced grades, AAD chairman S S Rathi said, 8220;The announced recommendations would downgrade the teaching profession and act as repellent to talent in the higher education.8221;
