Medical, dental teachers reject pay

Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 20

Doctors working at government dental and medical colleges of Patiala and Amritsar has rejected the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. The Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association finds the report, in the present form, a huge financial loss to their cadre and decided to oppose it.

The association has announced that OPD and operation theatre services would be suspended in Patiala and Amritsar for three hours on Monday as part of their protest. The doctors also wouldn’t let run teaching there.

Dr DS Bhullar, general secretary of the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association, said the Cabinet decision on the pay commission report, which was meant to provide financial benefits, would result in a drastic cut in the salaries of medical and dental teachers. The non-practising allowance (NPA) has been decreased from 25 to 20 per cent and delinked from the basic pay which has never been in the past, says the association.

Dr Bhullar clarified: “The NPA has to be a part of the basic pay for calculation of other allowances such as dearness and house rent. Even the Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Tribunal and the High Court by holding that 25% of the pay as the NPA would mean 25% of the basic pay inclusive of the benefits. The court has also held that the doctors were entitled to the NPA linked to their pay i.e. 25 per cent of their basic pay.”

The executive body of the association and its Patiala unit at its emergency meeting held in Patiala yesterday decided to oppose any such financial loss to the faculty and urge Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to intervene to undo the injustice to the medical and dental teachers.