Gujarat Teachers' salaries according to UGC scales now

Following protests by college teachers, the state government on Wednesday finally announced the revised Sixth Pay Commission pay scales for 15,000 teachers, but have not gone the whole hog in implementing it in letter and spirit as per the UGC recommendations.

This has left a bitter taste among college teachers who have threatened to launch an agitation till all the UGC recommendations are met. They are convening a meeting today to chalk out their future course of action.

The new GR was released by state Education Minister Ramanlal Vora in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. The teachers were initially happy on receiving the news that the government had implemented the new scales as per the UGC recommendations. However, on receiving the GR, they were stupefied to find that the government had conveniently ignored many key recommendations.

Earlier, the Gujarat government had decided to apply the Sixth Pay Commission scales, meant for government officials, to college and university teachers. But as this would not have made much difference in their pay scales, the teachers began agitating saying most states had already implemented UGC scales, and there was no reason why Gujarat government, whose financial condition is better, could not do it.

A senior state official said, "Nearly 10,000 teachers, mainly lecturers, will benefit from the new UGC scales. It will mean a rise of between Rs 5,000 and 7,000 for an entry-level lecturer. It means approximately 20 per cent increase in lecturers' salaries compared to what they were to get on the basis of 6th Pay Commission recommendations." However assistant professors and professors will not gain much.

"The new scales will mean an additional annual burden of Rs 436.42 crore, 80 per cent of which will be funded by the UGC, and 20 per cent by the state government," said Vora, adding, "State government money with retrospective effect, from January 1, 2006, will be deposited in the general provident fund. They will get the UGC amount in cash as and when it is disbursed." While implementing UGC scales, the government decided not to be guided by UGC for emoluments.

The agitating teachers have however called the decision of the state Cabinet a fraud, as it does away with 80 percent of the UGC's recommendations, claimed K S Shastri, president of Gujarat Teachers' Association.

Saurabh Choksi, President of Gujarat University College Principals' Association: "This GR will bridge the salary gap between junior and senior principals. The government has done a great job by taking us into confidence while preparing the GR."

Harshad Patel of University Education Forum: "As the government has accepted the UGC's recommendations, there is no reason for us to continue with the agitation. The teaching staff will benefit from the GR which has implemented Scale to Scale' salary structure."

Gujarat University Officers' Association: "The government while accepting UGC's recommendation for teachers' pay scale has ignored the officers including registrar, examination controller and other senior staff. As we are less in number, we can't launch agitation in a major way like teachers."

(Inputs from Times of India)