Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 28
Panjab University (PU) teachers may have to wait longer for the 7th Pay Commission benefits as it has been deferred till the Punjab Government notifies it. It would have put an additional burden of Rs 100.12 crore. Meanwhile, the Board of Finance (BoF) of the PU today passed Rs 556.38 crore Budget for 2018-19.
Earlier also, the pay revision notification related to teachers used to be adopted by the university after the same got notified by the Punjab Government. But as the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had agreed to support the salary expenditure towards teaching staff, which are 1,378, as assessed by the manpower audit committee of the university and such number of non-teaching staff as would commensurate with ratio of 1:1.1, the PU approved it and placed it before BoF where funding was to be discussed.
PU teachers Prof Navdeep Goyal and Prof Rajat Sandhir in the BoF were supporting it but the UGC submitted a reply that the university “should consider the revision of pay scales of teachers after the same is notified by the state government”.
Another contentious issue was the PhD increments to assistant professors. Both PU teachers in BoF raised the issue that increments should be granted as per the decisions of governing bodies.
Later, a joint committee of the Chandigarh Administration and the PU was formed to look into the matter. The Chandigarh Administration has been giving increments to its assistant professors in city colleges but Special Secretary, Finance, Harish Nayar, said they needed to study it.
Prof Arun Kumar Grover, Vice-Chancellor, constituted a committee under chairperson Prof Navdeep Goyal which would interact with DPI, colleges, and the Special Secretary, Finance, UT.
From the PU, Prof Devinder Singh, former Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) president; PUTA chief Prof Rajesh Gill or her nominee; Prof Rajat Sandhir, fellow and member of BoF; Prof Anil Kumar from the University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS); Dr Dalip Kumar, fellow; and Finance and Development Officer Vikram Nayyar will also be a part of the joint committee.
Punjab must pay deficit
There is an uncovered deficit of Rs 17.93 crore relating to previous financial years which has to be met by the Punjab Government as per the directive from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) dated June 19, 2017. During the discussion, a representative from the Punjab Government said they were looking into it.
Highlights of meeting
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