Maharastra College teachers to get pay panel benefits but they decided to continue strike.

The state cabinet, on Thursday, cleared the proposal to implement the 6th Pay Commission recommendations for the college and university teachers with a retrospective effect w.e.f 01.01.2006.
However, the move could end the ongoing indefinite strike by senior college teachers across the state.

The Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (MFUCTO), that has been leading the state-wide teachers' strike since July 14, declared that the state's decision was not in line with the central government's recommendations. "We will continue with the strike as the state government is not giving us the allowances, which the central government had recommended for the new scales," said MFUCTO president C R Sadashivan, while speaking to TOI from Mumbai on Thursday.

"The allowances granted are against the old scale, which is not acceptable. The central government recommendation has to be implemented in a composite manner," said Sadashivan.

An official communication released by the chief minister's office on Thursday evening stated that the implementation of the 6th pay commission for university and college teachers is "as per the central government recommendations".

The release stated that 31,161 state universities and senior college teachers will benefit from the implementation of the 6th pay commission. The additional financial burden on account of implementing the 6th pay commission from January 1, 2006 to March 31, 2010 will be Rs 2,266.20 crore. Of this, Rs 1,433.10 crore will be secured from the central government, while the state government will bear the burden of the remainder Rs 833.10 crore.

The release further stated that post-March 2010, the annual burden of Rs 598.25 crore on account of the pay commission for university and college teachers will be solely borne by the state government.

According to Sadashivan, the secretary to state department for higher and technical education had assured MFUCTO that a detailed proposal would be forwarded to the teachers' organisation after it was approved by the state cabinet. "We assess what has been okayed and what has not been okayed before deciding on bringing an end to the strike. For now, the strike stands," he said.

"Apart from this issue, the teachers are also agitating for NET/SET exemption and the government has not spoken a thing about this demand," said Sadashivan.

Teachers, who were appointed between September 19, 1991 and December 11, 1999, were not required to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State Eligibility Test (SET). However, the state government recently issued an order making NET/SET clearance mandatory with a retrospective effect, he said.
Source : The Times of India.