UGC pay scales for State Lecturers:

University and college teachers in Karnataka will get revised University Grants Commission (UGC) pay scales. The retirement age for university teachers is raised from 60 to 62 years. The pay revision along the lines of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations will benefit an estimated 18,630 university and college teachers. The beneficiaries of the retirement age enhancement will, however, be much less. Announcing the Cabinet decisions, Home Minister V S Acharya said the revised pay scales for teachers would be implemented with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006. The hike for teachers will range between Rs 10,000 and Rs 35,000 per month depending on the seniority and the positions they hold. The Cabinet also met the long-pending demands of junior doctors, who had threatened to go on indefinite strike. Nearly 4,000 doctors are employed with the health department. The Cabinet approved allowances between Rs 4,000 and Rs 12,500 a month for the government doctors. The hike for doctors (ranging between Rs 3,000 and Rs 8,000 per month) would be with immediate effect. The decision to hike the pay scale of university/college teachers is in line with the UGC-constituted Chaddha Committee recommendation. The Chaddha committee had recommendations implementation of the revised UGC scales for college teachers. According to education department sources, a total of 18,630 lecturers, including 6,740 faculty members in government colleges, 9,650 in private aided colleges and 2,360 in university colleges, will benefit from the decision.The teachers’ wage bill for the government will shoot up from the present Rs 590 crore to Rs 815 crore per annum, sources added. The Centre will bear 80 per cent of the revised salary bill from January 1, 2006 to March 2010. Later on, the State Government will have to foot the entire bill. Acharya said the arrears of Rs 954 crore would have to be paid as the difference for a period of 51 months from January 1, 2006, to March 31, 2010. The Union Government will bear 80 per cent (Rs 763 crore) of the salary bill, and the remaining 20 per cent (Rs 191 crore) will be borne by the State Government from January 1, 2006, to March 2010. The date of release of the first instalment of arrears as well as the revised salary will be announced later.

Designation changes

There will be a change in designations following the implementation of the revised pay scales. The posts of lecturer, senior lecturer or selection grade lecturer will go, and instead there will be assistant professor, associate professor and a professor. The fixation formula, allowances, yardsticks for career advancement scheme, qualification criteria and leave facilities will be as stipulated by the UGC.However, sources said the government had decided not to create new posts. This is in line with a Finance Department proposal. Besides, leave and medical reimbursement facilities and pensionary benefits will continue to be applicable to State Government employees.Moreover, teaching staff without UGC-prescribed qualifications are not entitled to avail the revised scheme, the sources added. The Federation of University and College Teachers’ Association in Karnataka (Fuctak) welcomed the decision to implement the revised scales of pay from January 1, 2006.