CHANDIGARH: A large number of college and university teachers have been protesting throughout Punjab and UT Chandigarh for the last several months for the adoption of UGC pay scales as part of the decadal revision of pay-scales undertaken by the centre and the states.
Protests are going on under the banner of PFUCTO (Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations, a federation of teachers associations of GNDU, Amritsar, PU, Chandigarh, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjabi University, Patiala, GADVASU, Ludhiana, Government Colleges and non-govt. colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh)
The govt. servants of Punjab have been covered by the recently implemented 6th Punjab Pay Commission w.e.f. 1.1.2016. The teachers of the universities and colleges are not covered by this 6th Punjab Pay Commission award but are entiltled to pay- scale revision as per the UGC pay-scale structure as notified by the Central pay commission which is effevtive from the same date, i.e. 1.1.2016.
The teachers of the universities and colleges are in fact seeking revision of their respective scales from 1.1.2016 that have already been given to all the govt. servants of Punjab. These UGC pay-scales have already been implemented throughout the country, in all states and union territories.except in Punjab. Since Himachal Pradesh and UT Chandigarh follow Punjab pattern, the same has also not been adopted by them. The UGC Pay Scales were notified in Nov., 2017. The Punjab government did not implement them earlier on the plea that it had to first implement its 6th pay commission award for its govt. servants, and so UGC Pay Scales for Punjab college and university teachers were put on hold. Now Punjab has implemented its 6th Pay commission but it has not adopted the corresponding UGC Pay Scales for reasons best known to the Government.
It has been a regular practice that whenever Punjab Government implements new Pay Scales every ten years, it adopts corresponding UGC Pay Scales for its college and university teachers. Whenever the state governments adopt the UGC scales, they becomes entitled to Central assistance from the Govt of India to meet the expenditure arising from the implementation of the new scales.
Moreover, to remain eligible for central assistance for various purposes, it is essential for colleges and universities in the states to remain part of UGC domain and act according to the statutory regulations as done by all the states and also by Punjab government in the past.
For this genuine cause and legitimate concern, the teachers have been forced to come on the road at the cost of teaching and research in their respective educational institutions. Alienating Punjab teachers from UGC grades will lead to numerous problems and the state will not be able to take maximum benefit of central schemes and funds available for higher education. The decades old statutes/rules/regulations governing the service conditions and pay scales of the university and college teachers will stand affected jeopardizing the whole higher education system and result in de-recognition of universities and colleges and degrees awarded by them. The state will also lose the funds available to pay the arrears on account of revision of pay scales.
Rough financial burden on account of adoption of UGC pay scales in the already notofied Punjab State 6th Pay scales is approximately 360 crores (for the first 39 months i.e. from 1.1.2016 to 31.3.2019), works out to be 9 to 10 crore p.m. Extrapolating it upto next 6 years and three months would be around 720 crore, out of which 180 crore is the liability of Centre.
Thus the net liability of Punjab Govt is approximately 540 crore, which would have been 360 crore had university and college teachers been paid 5% interim relief which was paid to state employees from 2017. Further UGC multiplier is 2.57 which is lower than 2.59, given to other govt. servants. As compared to the minimum increase of 15% for other state employees teachers' salary increase works out to only 14.28% . Teachers accept it as they have to stay within the UGC framework in order to become eligible for UGC grants and for the excellence of research and teaching patterns.
In a nutshell, the per annum liability is around 100 crore, which is a good spend as it will make universities and colleges continue to be part of the national higher education mainstream.
Written by Dr.Jagwant Singh General Secretary PFUCTO