Pay hike update from Bihar, MP and Jammu & Kashmir. Update on AICTE Pay Commission.

Bihar Pay Panel report in 3 months : Deputy CM.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday said the pay committee constituted by the government employees to look into the anomalies related to sixth pay commission reccomendations, would submit its report in the next three months.

Replying to a question of CPM's Ramdeo Verma in the state Assembly, Modi said on the pattern of the implementation of the fifth Pay Commission, the government has decided to implement the sixth Pay Commission recommendations from January 1, 2006. But the actual payment of salaries and allowances would be made from January 1, 2007, he added.

Source : The Times of India.

Jammu and Kashmir employees to chalk strategy for protest today.

Employees Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) is all set to meet on Friday to declare a full-fledged and decisive protest programme.
A local news gathering agency KNS, while quoting its sources said the leaders of both the factions of EJAC met in an urgent meeting at Food and Supplies head office here to discuss the further strategy.
“In today’s meeting it was decided that another crucial meeting of JCC will be held in the Civil Secretariat on Friday at 11 am. There will be a threadbare discussion and exchange of ideas over the genuine demands of the employees as well as the non-seriousness on part of the government,” KNS quoting the JCC spokesperson said.
Chairman of his faction Khurshid Alam said: “The proceedings and the future strategy of the JCC will be disclosed to media at 3 pm in an important press conference. Government has deceived the employees and the second round of the protest demonstration will also be announced as part of the decisive struggle to get the benefits of the 6th Pay Commission.”

Source : The Daily Rising Kashmir.

Madhya Pradesh Govt employees' statewide dharna today.

Four main employee organisations of the state - MP Class Three Government Employees Association, MP Clerical Grade Government Employees Association, MP Laghu Vetan Karamchari Assocaition and MP Swasthya Karamchari Sangh - have decided to launch state-wide dharna on July 31 in support of their long pending 13 demands and submit memo to the district collector addressed to the chief minister.
Their demands include cash payment of arrears pertaining to Sixth Pay Commission recommendations from 1.1.06 to 31.8.08, removal of pay scale anomalies from Fifth Pay Commission onwards, grade pay as per Central Government Employees, house rent allowance at the rate of 20 per cent, travelling allowance, DA as per Central Government Employees, promotion to work charge employees, leave encashment facility at the time of retirement, exemption of payment of employment tax to Class III and IV employees, etc.


Source : Central Chronicle.

AICTE Pay Revision :

Reports for polytechnic and engineering colleges submitted to finance.

In a telephonic conversation with Director (Technical) MHRD, she informed that pay revision reports have been submitted to finance department for approval.

Source : The source did not want to be named. However we are trying to get the news authenticated.

Judicial Pay Commission Report : Update about allowances.

As for the dearness allowance and city compensatory allowance, the commission said the recommendations of the First National Judicial Pay Commission, as ordered by the Supreme Court, were to be followed. It recommended a sumptuary allowance of Rs.1,500 for civil judges (junior division) and Rs. 2,300 (senior division); and Rs. 3,100 for district judges (all levels); Rs. 1,000 in medical allowance for all judicial officers; robe allowance of Rs. 5,000 once in three years; and Rs.1,500 in hill area allowance, both subject to approval by the Supreme Court.

The commission said the recommendations of the First National Judicial Pay Commission in respect of newspapers and magazine allowance, reimbursement of electricity and water charges in the ratio of 50:50 and conveyance allowance should be continued. It also recommended revised pension for retired judicial officers at 50 per cent of the minimum pay of the post held at the time of retirement, as revised from time to time, and there should not be any ceiling on the maximum pension.

A Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan, after hearing amicus curiae in the All India Judges Association case, senior counsel Fali Nariman and counsel A.T.M. Sampath, posted the matter for further hearing on August 31.

Source : The Hindu

Please visit the earlier post for more details.

Govt processing panel's suggestion on IIT, IIM faculty's pay

A committee set up to recommend revised pay scale for faculty of IITs and IIms has suggested fat salary packages for them while the recommendations are being processed by the government, the Rajya Sabha was told on Tuesday.

The Govardhan Mehta Pay Review Committee has suggested that the scale of pay of assistant professors in these institutions will be in the Pay Band of Rs 15,600 to Rs 39,100 with Academic Grade Pay of Rs 8,000, Minister of State for HRD D Purandeswari said in a written reply.

The committee has said the position of lecturer could be offered on contractual basis and may be renewed in the pay band Rs 15,600 to Rs 39,100 with AGP of Rs 7,000.

It has further said three advance increments on non-compoundable basis may be allowed for those with M Tech and six advance increments on non-compoundable basis may be allowed to lecturers with PhD.

The committee has suggested that pay scale of associate professors should be in pay band of Rs 37,400 to Rs 67,000 with AGP of Rs 10,000 while the minimum basic pay to be fixed at Rs 43,000.

The scale of pay for professors will be remain in the pay band of Rs 37,400 to Rs 67,000 with AGP of Rs 11,000 and the minimum basic to be be fixed at Rs 48,000.

A professor will be eligible for enhanced AGP of Rs 12,000 with five years experience in the scale.

Source : Economic Times.

Central Govt. employees to perform journey only in Air India - in both official tour and LTC - Clarification thereon.

No.3I011/2/2006-Estt.(A)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

(Department of Pension & Pensioners'Welfare)

New Delhi, dated the 27th July, 2009

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:Regulation of Journey by air while availing Leave Travel Concession - clarification regarding.

The undersigned is directed to refer to Ministry of Finance,Department of Expenditure O.M.No. 19024/1/2009-E.IV dated 13/7/2009 modifying the O.M. No. 7(2)/E.Coord/2005 dated 23rd November, 2005 and superseding of O.M.No. 19024/1/E.IV/2005 dated 24/3/2006. It has been decided by the Department of Expenditure that in all cases of air travel both domestic and international where the Government of India bears the cost of air passage, the officials concerned may travel only by air India. The matter whether these orders will apply in cases of LTC has been considered in consultation with Ministry of Finance, Department of expenditure and it is confirmed that these orders/conditions will apply in cases of LTC also.

2. This issues in consultation with Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure) vide their ID No. 39/DS(EG)/2009 dated 20/7/2009.

(Smt. Raj Bala Singh)

Under Secy, Govt. of India

View the official order

UP govt to pay non-practising allowance to doctors

Lucknow July 28 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh government today decided to pay non-practicing allowance (NPA) to government doctors of Provincial Medical Service.

A meeting of the state cabinet presided by chief minister Mayawati took the decision to pay non-practicing allowance equivalent to 25 percent of salary of allopath government doctors.

The decision would benefit nine thousand doctors of the Provincial Medical Service of the state government.

Punjab teachers plan stir to protest delay in notification of revised scales

Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (PFUCTO) representing five universities of the state, 54 government colleges and 170 non-government colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh today announced its action plan to protest against the failure of Punjab government to notify the revised UGC pay scales approved by the Punjab Cabinet on June 18.

The teachers will sport black badges on July 29, stage dharna during vacant periods on August 3, cease work for an hour to hold campus rallies on August 7 and, if need be will intensify agitation from August 11.

Announcing the action programme, Dr SS Dhillon and Dr Jagwant Singh, president and general secretary of the federation, said that the Punjab government had to take blame for the protest as notification was still awaited even after six weeks of the cabinet decision. Dr Dhillon said that the demand for the new UGC pay scales was accepted by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal nearly six months ago on Feb 13 adding that the extraordinary delay was unacceptable.

Dr Jagwant Singh, general secretary of the federation, said the government had thrust an agitation on teachers, who were completely unwillingly to go on protest in the beginning of the new academic session.

He said that the delay had caused apprehensions in the mind of everyone that if the part notification had not been issued even after six weeks of cabinet of decision, how much time the government will take to come out with complete notification? He said that the MHRD notification dated December 31, 2008 was categorical that the notification “shall” be implemented without any changes; still the Punjab government has constituted a committee to examine “allowance and other benefits,” which is yet to hold its first meeting.

He said that the federation has conveyed its stand to the government that since their pay scales were determined under the Central Pay Commission, the recommendation of the commission accepted by the Union Government should be implemented in toto and their should not be any mix up with state commission.

Source : Express India.

Judicial Pay commission : Padmanabhan committee submits report, three-fold pay hike for trial court judges.

View latest [May 2010] Supreme Court order in this matter.


In what could be the biggest ever salary hike for lowly-paid trial court judges, the Supreme Court-appointed National Judicial Pay Commission (NJPC) has proposed more than three-fold jump in their pay that translates to a monthly increase of Rs 20,000 at the entry level.

Less than three months after being appointed head of the second NJPC, Justice E Padmanabhan, a former judge of the Madras HC, submitted his report to the SC proposing an average 3.07-fold hike in the existing salaries that was recommended by the first NJPC in 1999. The recommendations of the first NJPC headed by Justice Jagannatha Shetty had entitled civil judge (junior division) starting salary of Rs 11,775, civil judge (senior division) Rs 15,200, district judge (entry level) Rs 20,800 and district judge (super time scale) Rs 23,850.

With the increase proposed by the second NJPC, the starting salary of a civil judge (junior division) is expected to be around Rs 35,000, a hike of nearly Rs 24,000. As per Justice Padmanabhan’s recommendations, salary of civil judge (senior division) would be around Rs 45,000, which means a hike of around Rs 30,000. Similarly, the salary of district judge (entry level) would be around Rs 60,000 and that of DJ (super time scale) Rs 70,000.

The logic given by Justice Padmanabhan, after extensive research and hearing of parties almost on a daily basis, was that the first NJPC had recommended salaries of the lower judiciary keeping in view the then salaries of HC judges which was fixed at Rs 26,000 and that of HC CJ at Rs 30,000, SC judges at Rs 30,000 and CJI at Rs 33,000. However, with the CJI and SC and HC judges getting more than three-fold hike in their salaries, the second NJPC thought of applying the same logic for trial court judges.

The salary structure for the higher judiciary got changed with retrospective effect, as the government in January this year agreed to revise the salary of HC judges to Rs 80,000, HC Chief Justices Rs 90,000, SC judges Rs 90,000 and CJI Rs 1 lakh.

The appointment of the second judicial pay commission had come through a judicial order of the apex court on April 30 in an application filed by the All India Judges Association.
Source Times of India.

SC seeks states’ response

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked for response from all states, UTs and High Courts to the recommendations made by the Justice E Padmanabhan Committee, the most prominent being over three-fold hike in revision of salary of lower-judiciary judges.

Appointed by the apex court in April this year, the Padmanabhan committee placed its report before a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan. It has also called for an increase in the pensionary benefits to those judicial officers who retired before January 2006 and those after it.

Source : Indian Express
See here for allowance
View the full report
We are grateful to Sri Ganesh Deshmukh for providing the report. Thanks to Sri Deshmukh from the publisher and readers of this blog.

Maharastra Mantralaya staff to go on strike.

After doctors and teaching staff in the state, Mantralaya employees are going on an indefinite strike from August 4 .
G.D. Kulthe, secretary of the Gazetted Officers' Association said though they have been receiving salaries according to the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, they want HRA and transport allowances on a par with the Central government employees. "Besides, we want an assured promotion programme and gratuity according to the Central government norms,'' he added.

Kulthe said nearly 24 lakh employees from Mantralaya, government, zilla parishad, teachers and gazetted officers will join the strike.

The government has spent Rs 18,800 crore to pay arrears from January 2006 and will have a burden of Rs 8,400 crore every year. The finance department said if CM Ashok Chavan accepts their demand, then the state will have a burden of another Rs 4,800 crore.

Chief secretary Johny Joseph said many states do not pay HRA and transport allowance on a par with the Central government. "The financial condition of the state will worsen if we give them another hike. It will cost us nearly Rs 5,000 crore per annum,'' he said.
Source : Times of India.

UP Govt directs colleges to pay salary as per UGC norms. J & K pay commission update.

Director higher education Miyan Jaan on Saturday directed principals of all government and government-aided colleges in UP to make
arrangement for payment of salaries to teachers as per revised pay scales
recommended by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the month of July. The directorate would take over the job from August after completing required formalities and paperwork. University Grants Commission (UGC) for the month of July. The directorate would take over the job from August after completing required formalities and paperwork.

As per rules, the higher education directorate is the authority which fixes salaries of teachers but for the first time principals, as an exception, have been authorised to make payments for the month of July. The directorate would do the job from the next month. Reason: It would take at least a month for the directorate to do the required paperwork for the cause. Principals have also been asked to submit details of the payment made to the directorate for verification.

The decision was taken after TOI highlighted on Saturday how academic session in 12 state universities and 400 odd degree colleges in the state was facing a threat of derailment due to delay in implementation of the revised scales. Over 18,000 teachers in the government and government funded higher education institutes in the state had threatened to go on strike from August, if their demands were not met within a week, putting at risk the future of over 20 lakh students.

Meanwhile, delegation of the Lucknow University Associated College Teachers Association (LUACTA) also met the higher education secretary Kamran Rizvi, who assured teachers that their remaining demands will be met soon as well. The demands include change in nomenclature of the posts and payment of arrears of revised scales from 2006 as recommended by the UGC. Later, LUACTA president Moulindu Mishra expressed satisfaction over the talks with the government.
Source : Times of India.

Jammu & Kashmir

Finance minister Abdul Rahim Rather Saturday said the state government employees would be drawing their revised salaries as per the recommendations of the 6th pay commission from the current month.
“We have already reached an agreement with the employees which was later followed by the cabinet order. It will be implemented from July and employees will draw their revised salaries as per the agreement from August 1,” Rather told a press conference here.
He said unfortunately the employees have some apprehensions, which are wrong. “These apprehensions are misplaced. We will stand by the orders issued. Let employees be patient,” Rather said.

Source : Greater Kashmir

Punjab Pay commission : Badal forms panel to look into employees issues

A delegation of Punjab Mulazam Sangarsh Committee led by its convener Ranbir Dhillon today called on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and urged him to expedite the issuance of notification relating to the admissible allowances as per the recommendations of the Punjab Fifth Pay Commission.

The delegation also raised the issue of increasing the rate of increment, cash payment of revised pay arrears, notification for revised pension to the pensioners regularization of work charged, daily wagers and adhoc employees, third party insurance of government vehicles, hike in medical allowance besides upward revision of rural, border area, conveyance, project and traveling allowance.

The Chief Minister constituted a panel comprising Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Principal Secretary Finance, Secretary Personnel and the Secretary of the concerned departments under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary to look into these issues and hear the committee before taking a final decision, an official spokesman said here.

Badal reiterated that the state government was committed to safeguard the interests of its employees at all cost as they were the backbone of the state administration.

He said that the Govt. was ready to resolve all pending issues with an open mind and positive approach.

Source : PTI

Again another committee for AICTE Pay revision ?

A news has just came in that on 23rd of this month central government constituted a new 3 member committee under the chairmanship of Prof. S. Malkhani to revise the AICTE pay scales of technical teachers. Other members are Prof. Bimal Kumar Mandal and Prof. G.K.Arya. The committee had given 3 month time to submit report.

The news is yet to be confirmed and we are trying to get it authenticated. It may be noted that it may be a rumour. As we are constantly in the job to keep our readers updated about this long drawn process of pay hike, we did publish the news to meet the curiosity of our readers.

Rajasthan University & College teachers' pay : revision after panel submits report

The state government would decide about the revision in payscales of the university and college teachers after the committee submits it's report.
Replying to questions during the Question Hour in the state assembly on Thursday, higher education minister Jitendra Singh pointed out the chief minister had announced in his modified budget speech setting up of the committee to study the report of Chaddha committee, which was set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The five-member committee, headed by principal secretary (medical and health) with principal secretary (higher education), special secretary (finance) and deputy secretary (education) as members, would submit its report in two months, he added.

The minister, on a joint question of BJP's Rajendra Singh Rathor and Digambar Singh, informed the House that the UGC would give 80% amount of the revised payscales to the university and college teachers and the remaining 20% would be borne by the state government.

The UGC would contribute Rs 400-500 crore and the state government's burden would be Rs 129 crore, he said. Claiming that the Congress government had given the benefits of the Fifth Pay Commission to the teachers in 1999, he said this time too, the government is inclined to give the revised pay.

To another question from BJP's Vasudev Devnani, he said the process for the appointment of vice-chancellors have already began in five universities Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur, Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner, Rajasthan Medical University, Jaipur, and Rajasthan Technical University, Kota.

He said while the process of appointment of 61 professors had began, the same for appointments to fill the SC/ST backlog could not be started and was stopped. He claimed that the state government would start the process soon.

He also said that there are 14 universities run by the government, eight out of which are for higher education, two for agriculture, two for medical, one for school education and one for technical education. There are 13 private and eight deemed universities in the state.

On a question tabled by Govind Singh Dotasara of Congress, medical and health minister Aimamuddin Ahmed Khan said that though the state does not have adequate number of medical colleges and need 14 more to meet the requirement, there is no proposal to open new ones because of resource crunch.

He, however, said that the state government would encourage and extend all possible help opening of medical colleges in the private sector. He also said that there is no provision to start short-term medical courses as the Indian Medical Council does not permit any such courses.

Source : Times of India.

Maharastra Govt. promised Medical Officers salary at par with Central govt employees

On Thursday in a written assurance to the Federation of Association of Health Officers (FAHO), state health minister Dr Rajendra Shingne agreed to bring the MOs working in the state public health department in the salary slab of MOs of central government.

However, since the formal decision in this regard will be taken only in the state cabinet meeting, the FAHO says that it has only suspended its ongoing agitation for over a month and half and may strike work again if the decision does not come in their favour.

Speaking to TOI, Dr Vijay Gedam, seputy director of health services, who was a part of the delegation which met the health minister, said that the minister had assured to increase the salary slab of grade I MOs (the entry level in public health department) from existing Rs 9,300-34,000 to 15,300-39,100 with effect from June 1, 2006 as per the Sixth Pay Commission.

Dr Sanjay Manekar, secretary, FAHO, Nagpur chapter told TOI that the state had also agreed to bring the doctors working in all rural and civil hospitals in state under the Non Practising Allowance scheme. "Till now doctors working in primary health centres and all other public health department hospitals including those from the assistant director post to the director health services were getting NPA. But rural doctors were kept out of this benefit. Hence we welcome the decision," he said.

The state has also agreed to introduce the dynamic career assurance promotion scheme (DCAP) scheme introduced specifically for doctors in the Sixth Pay Commission by Centre.

But instead of allowing provision of an increase in the salaries of next cadre after every four, eight, 12 and 20 years, the state has agreed to restrict this scheme at only two levels after six and 13 years of service.
Source : Times of India.

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.

Centre announces special allowances for paramilitary personnel fighting Naxals

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has announced special allowances for paramilitary forces fighting the Maoist insurgency on par with the Army.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour on Wednesday, Chidambaram said the Home Ministry has sanctioned the risk-based allowances to the central forces and the matter is pending before the Finance Ministry.

He informed members that the special allowances for the paramilitary personnel have been worked out on the basis of the hardship and risk involved and also the stress factor in anti - Naxal operations.

The new allowance is higher and totally different from the allowance given to personnel deployed for operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North Eastern region.he personnel till the rank of Commandant of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), an elite force of the central forces in Naxal-hit areas, would be covered by the risk allowances.

Chidambaram informed the House that the government is considering bringing the similarity in compensation amounts for Central Para Military Forces (CPMF) officials who die in action in line with officials of defence forces.

Chidambaram expressed concern over the lack of sanitation and other conveniences in deep forest camps of the central forces, and asked the states to address the issue.

Pay hike update in states : Maharasta, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir

Maharastra health directorate officials go on strike

Around 8000 doctors and senior officials of Maharashtra Health services went on an indefinite agitation from today demanding implementation of 6th Pay Commission report at par with the Centre.

The doctors are also demanding non-practising allowances, filling up of 2028 vacancies for health officers at various levels and promotion of the Dynamic Assured Progress Carrier Scheme (DAPCS).

The 'non-cooperation' strike will affect services in 2300 institutions including 1817 primary health care centres, 443 rural and cottage hospitals in Maharashtra. If the strike extends beyond July 22, it would also hamper the swine flu surveillance programme.

Doctors including senior health officers, deputy directors of the Health directorate all over the state are on mass leave and have stopped all non-emergency services including admission of patients, General Secretary of Federation of Health officers, Maharashtra, Dr Ashok Kamble told reporters here.
Source : PTI

Over 13,000 non-teaching staff in Maharastra threaten to go on strike

After university and college teachers, around 13,000 non-teaching staff from the state has also threatened to go on strike. While the workers will hold strike in stages, their major demand includes implementation of Sixth Pay Commission (SPC) recommendations. A total of 1500 workers from UoP will also be a part of this strike.

“We will be holding a public meeting on Thursday outside the University of Pune (UoP), followed by a morcha at the office of joint director of education on July 31. We are planning no-work agitation from August 1 to 3 and total strike on August 4,” said Rajabhau Nerlekar, vice president, Maharashtra Vidyapeeth Karmachari Mahasangh (Maharashtra Universities’ non-teaching staff association). Non-teaching staff from all non-agriculture universities in the state, IGNOU and Maharashtra University of Health Sciences –Nasik is also participating in the strike.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (MFUCTO) will be holding a massive demonstration outside the Nasik collectorate during a special cabinet meeting scheduled on Wednesday. “After this, we plan to take to the roads and hold morchas at various places,” said Atul Bagul, president, Pune University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) on Monday. Around 50,000 college teachers from the state have joined the strike called by Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (MFUCTO) that is being supported by the non-teaching staff.

Source : Indian Express.

Model code of conduct and financial crisis may delay pay rise in Meghalaya

The model code of conduct which came into effect from July 16 for Laitumkhrah byelection coupled with the financial crisis may delay the early implementation of the Fourth Pay Commission for Meghalaya employees.

After a recent meeting of the state cabinet, chief minister D.D. Lapang said the state government would ask for a one-time grant of Rs 562 crore from the Prime Minister to implement the Fourth Pay Commission recommendations from this year.

Though Lapang has been camping in Delhi along with his deputy Mukul Sangma and other state officials for the past week to meet Manmohan Singh and submit the memorandum regarding more funds for the pay hike, no such meeting took place.

The Meghalaya employees wanted the implementation of the Fourth Pay Commission by July 31, but that could prove a far-fetched dream.

The model code of conduct, which has come into effect from July 16 because of the byelection, an official source said, would delay the announcement of the pay package even if the Centre approves the Meghalaya government’s demand.

After the Fourth Pay Commission submitted its recommendations at the end of last year, the state government had constituted an empowered committee to examine the percentage of the pay hike to be given to the government employees. Meghalaya, the committee figured out, needed more than Rs 500 crore a year to fully implement the recommendations of the pay panel.

The state government had only given an interim relief of 10 per cent of basic pay including dearness allowance subject to the minimum of Rs 400 per month from December last year to the government employees after receiving the report of the pay panel.

Source : The Telegraph.

Jammu & Kashmir : 4.5 lakh employees to strike work today

More than 4.5 lakh government employees would go on a two-day strike from Wednesday, Employees Joint Action Committee decided Tuesday.
EJAC spokesperson said the employees would go ahead with their programme to hold protest and strike on July 22 and 23 respectively to press implementation of 6th Pay Commission recommendations.
EJAC (Q) president Abdul Qayoom Wani told Rising Kashmir the employees would stage demonstrations in all district headquarters and towns across the Valley on July 22.
“In Srinagar,” he said, “the employees would assemble outside all the central offices like Directorate of Education, SMC, SMHS, Agriculture complex Lal mandi and at SK Park and stage protests. The protest will continue till 12 noon and later the employees under the banner of Joint Consultative Committee - an amalgam of various government employee associations - will assemble at Sheri Kashmir park.”
Qayoom said on July 23, complete lock-out would be observed. “Nearly 4.5 lakh state government employees would go on strike on the day,” he said.
EJAC (Q) president said the government in March this year had entered into an agreement with the employees and agreed to implement the 6th Pay Commission recommendations. “The government had agreed to release the arrears in yearly installments. But nothing substantial has materialized since then,” he said.
The demands of the employees include release of arrears from January 1, 2006 in the form of cash, Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) be converted into Daily allowance (DA) and bringing of House Rent Allowance at par with the employees of other states of India.
The employees also demand enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60, regularization of contractual, adhoc and casual workers as per the merit, amendment in the Wage Act including increase in wages of the daily wagers and casual laborers from current Rs 2,100 monthly to Rs 5,000.

Source : The Daily Rising Kashmir.

AICTE Pay Revision : some Updates.

Latest Update : View this page for Notification : January 2010.

On 12th July, a delegation of AIFPTO officials met Smt. D. Purandeswari, Hon'ble Minister of State for HRD . They submitted a representation urging the Minister to expedite the Notification for revision of Pay scales of Polytechnic teachers who are the only left over category in the entire country whose pay scales are yet to be revised. The Minister has agreed that the issue is delayed and promised the delegation to take up the issue as soon as she is back in New Delhi later this week.


AICTE Pay Revision : Bribe case may delay implementation

AICTE Top offical's houses was raided recently by CBI. AICTE member secretary was caught while bribing 5 lakh from two private institution of Andhra. As he is a member of aicte pay revision committee and interministerial committee,AICTE pay commission may delay further.

Arunachal Pradesh announces 15 months' arrear for state govt employees

In a sop to agitating state government employees before the assembly polls in September, the Arunachal Pradesh government today announced that 15 months' arrear would be paid to them before the elections.

Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu told reporters that other arrear will be paid later.

Earlier this year the state government employees, went on an indefinite strike paralysing administration. It turned out to be a poll issue before the recent Lok Sabha election and the state was forced to invoke provisions of NSA and arrest the striking leaders.

The strike was suspended and NSA revoked following talks between the two sides.

Replying to a question, Khandu claimed the ruling Congress will win 48 to 50 seats in the 60-member state assembly in the next election.

Source : PTI

Maharashtra health directorate officials to go on strike, teachers' strike continues.

After the university and college teachers, it is the turn of Maharashtra Health Directorate officials across the state to go on an indefinite strike from tomorrow demanding implementation of Sixth Pay Commission report at the earliest and at par with the Centre.

Even district health officers, deputy directors and other senior officials of the Health directorate all over the state will go on mass leave from tomorrow and all the non-emergency services will come to a halt, the doctors said in a press release issued here today.

"However, on July 21 and 22, emergency services and post-mortem department will be available to the public," senior doctors of the Directorate said.

If Government does not heed to our demands within two days from July 23 onwards, even the emergency services and post-mortems will be stopped completely, the doctors said.

Source : PTI

No end in sight for teachers' strike in Maharastra.

The teachers have stopped work' in response to the state-wide agitation call by the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (MFUCTO) demanding implementation of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations.

While the agitation has started to affect work, particularly revaluation of papers, at theUniversity of Pune (UoP), the Pune University Teachers Association (Puta) president Atul Bagul said that the situation was created by the state government.

"We have been agitating for the implementation of the recommendations of the pay Commission for quite some time, but the government has failed to take notice," Bagul said, adding, "What was the logic behind excluding only the senior college teachers out of the 6th pay panel benefits whereas the same were extended to their junior college counterparts."

So far, three rounds of talks have been held between the MFUCTO functionaries and the state minister for higher and technical education, Rajesh Tope, as well as secretary to the same department, J S Saharia, on July 15, 16 and 18, but none could lead to a solution.

The teachers have now planned a massive morcha on July 22 at Nashik, where the state cabinet will meet.
Source : Times of India.

Jammu & Kashmir : Employees to get pay hike in Aug, Govt awaits Delhi to fund arrears

More than 4.5 lakh employees will get their salaries as per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations from August 1 as the whopping amount of Rs 1700 core to be spent on their salaries have been included in State’s annual budget.
However, as far as the arrears of employees are concerned, the State government is still waiting for the financial help from New Delhi.
Talking to Rising Kashmir, Commissioner Secretary Finance Sudhanshiv Panday said employees will get their salaries from August 1 as promised in the cabinet order.
“The State will face the burden of Rs 1680 crore on the annual salaries of the employees as per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations,” he said.

Panday said since State economy is in shambles it was not clear whether employees would get their arrears too.
“It is difficult to say about arrears at this juncture,” Panday said.
A senior official in the State Finance department said that since government had made a commitment with the employees by entering into an agreement that employees will get their salaries as per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations from August 1, the amount of Rs 1700 crore has been included in the budget.
“Had the amount not been included in the budget, there was no question of revising the salary of employees as recommended by the 6th Pay Commission. The budget will be passed in the State assembly in the upcoming budget session starting from July 27,” the official said.
He said it was up to the Finance Commission on how much financial assistance they would provide to the State which is already grappling with the problem of low economy.
“Once the 13th Finance Commission will start next year, the State will receive adequate funds. But until then, State will find it difficult to release the salaries of employees as per the 6th pay commission recommendations,” the official said.
As per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, the government employees were supposed to receive Rs 3800 crore as arrears from 1 January 2006.
“At present, the State is in no position to release the arrears of employees,” the official said.
The employees had agreed to receive arrears in yearly installments that would be credited in their accounts.
However, they are now demanding release of arrears in cash instead of crediting it in their accounts.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Employees Joint Action Committee-K, Khurshid Alam said Employees Joint Consultative Committee will not accept anything short of the agreement they have entered with the government.
“Our demand is not just revised salary and arrears but conversion of COLA into DA, five per cent increase in house rent allowance, regularization of contractual and daily wagers,” Alam said.
He said the employees will go ahead with the two-day State-wide strike program they had already announced from July 21 against the “breach of cabinet order by the government itself”.
Source : Rising Kashmir.

"One rank One Pension - for officers also"-- Clarification by Defence Minister.

Defence Minister A K Antony today(13th july'09)) clarified in the Lok Sabha that "one rank, one pension" recommendation of the Cabinet Secretary-led panel had been accepted by the government for jawans as well as officers.

The government has accepted recommendations of the panel on "one rank, one pension" and other related matters concerning the armed forces, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

The decision is now nearer to the goal of “one rank, one pension” demand of nearly 1.5 million personnel, Antony said during question hour.

The total financial implications on account of benefits to the personnel would be Rs 2,144 crore, the minister said.

The committee has recommended inclusion of Classification Allowance for the Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) from January 1, 2006, and removal of linkage of full pensions with 33 years from the same date, he said.

The committee also recommended revision of pension of Lt Generals after carrying out a separate pay scale for them, bringing parity between pension pre and post October 10, 1997, for PBOR pensioners and further improving PBOR pensions based on award of Group of Ministers in 2006.

With regard to the separate pay commission, the minister said it had been agreed, and as and when necessary it would be set up in the future.

Antony said the government had also accepted the committee's recommendations regarding raising the pension amount for those disabled or injured in war.

"After considering all aspects of the issue, the committee made several recommendations to substantially improve pensionary benefits of Personnel Below Officer Rank and Commissioned Officers, which have been accepted by the government," the minister added.

Source : The Tribune.

Maharastra Teachers' strike: Talks fall through

Even after three days of intensive discussions between the teacher and the Govt, the two sides seems to have reached a common ground. The strike which begun on tuesday, is all set to continue.

Members of the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers' Organisations (MFUCTO) have been on a strike for almost a week now, protesting against the non-implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission salaries for college and university teachers and the discriomination shown against teachers who had not cleared NET/SLET at a time when these exams were not compulsory.

"We had hoped to solve the dispute by Friday, but there are several legal and financial issues that need to be addressed. We are examining the teachers' demands and we hope to arrive at a conclusion as soon as possible,'' said J Saharia, principal secretary, state higher and technical education department.

According to MFUCTO president CR Sadasivan, teachers wanted the government's commitment in writing. "On Thursday, the government gave us a four-line note on the Sixth Pay Commission salaries that is unsatisfactory,'' Sadasivan said. A resolution is yet to be reached over NET/SLET exams.

Source : The Times of India.

Maharastra teachers' strike continues, talks will resume saturday at 11 A.M.

The city colleges wore a deserted look on Friday as the strike called by college and university teachers across Maharashtra for implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission entered its fourth day. A marathon meeting took place on Thursday evening but talks remained inconclusive.

Talks will resume on Saturday, said representatives of the striking teachers. On Saturday talks will begin at 11 am. Once the bilateral draft on terms of various demands is ready, it would be placed before the full-fledged executive committee of the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (MFUCTO) for approval. The teachers are hoping that the federation of the 10 university unions will approve the draft agreement on various demands apart from pay revision. Negotiations will then continue with Rajesh Tope, Minister for Higher and Technical Education.

Around 30,000 varsity and college teachers under the umbrella body MFUCTO are on an indefinite strike. They are demanding implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission and regularisation of around 10,000 teachers affected by the National Eligibility Test (NET) and State Eligibility Test (SET) qualification criteria.

Source : Indian Express.

Bank wage talks fail, unions call 2-day strike in August

Once again the talks between United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for the ninth bipartite on wage revision has failed. The UFBU has given a call for two-day nationwide bank strike on August6-7, 2009.

The call for strike comes after the UFBU leaders’ meeting with the IBA chairman, MV Nair, who is also the chairman and managing director of Union Bank of India, in Mumbai on Tuesday.

It was for the first time that Nair met the union leaders chairman of IBA. Earlier he was dealing with unions in his capacity as the chairman of the IBA’s wage negotiating committee.

Earlier the union leaders made a fresh appeal before the IBA chairman to restore the 17.5% salary hike for the bank employees, which apparently IBA had offered .

Talking to FE, CH Venkatachalam, convener of UFBU, said that call for strike was given by UFBU after the talks with the IBA chairman turned inconclusive. All the nine bank employees’ unions, that comprise UFBU, have supported the proposed strike.

The ninth bipartite is due for the bank employees since November, 2007 and the 17.5% hike in wage of bank employees will put an additional burden on the state-owned banks by Rs 4,800 crore every year.

However, after having agreed initially for the 17.5% hike, the IBA later communicated to the UFBU that on government’s instructions it had decided to cap the hike to 15% only.

Now, the problem over negotiation has got complicated further after the IBA’s remained firm on its earlier offer of 15% wage hike. On condition of anonymity, an IBA official said that the 17.5% hike was never official offered by the IBA during the series of talks it has held with the UFBU.

More than 10 lakh bank employees are likely to join the strike.

Nair was not available for comments as he has gone on leave and is likely to take up the matter further only when he resumes his office.

Source : The Financial Express.

Maharashtra university teachers' strike enters second day

The indefinite 'cease work' strike by thousands of university and college teachers across Maharashtra continued for the second day on Wednesday even as the meeting between the government and the striking teachers was underway.

They are demanding implementation of 6th Pay Commission report.

The indefinite strike was called by the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (MFUCTO) on Tuesday.

However, the state minister of Higher and Technical Education Rajesh Tope is meeting teachers to resolve the differences.

"The meeting with the minister began around 2 pm today and is underway," said General Secretary of MFUCTO Prof Tapati Mukhopadhyay said.

The talks are moving in positive direction. By late evening, we may be able to say something on the nature of discussions and its outcome, she said.

The government is looking at the issue sympathetically and will be considering it possibly in the next cabinet meeting, a senior official from the higher education department said.

On June 4, Tope had assured in the Legislative Council to implement 6th pay Commission recommendations for university and college teachers by mid-July.

source ; The Hindu

Maharastra Resident doctors' strike enters seventh day, talks on

The strike by resident doctors on Monday entered the seventh day even as government officials met with the aggrieved students to negotiate their demands.

Resident doctors and interns under the aegis of Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) on Monday met Principal Secretary for Health Education, Bhushan Gagrani and other senior government officials to negotiate their demands.

"The strike is to continue as the government has offered an increase of only Rs 5,000 in stipends," spokesperson for MARD, Akash Khobragade told PTI.

The strike has affected medical services at 24 medical colleges in the state and three medical colleges under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation with close to 3,000 resident doctors and interns supporting the strike.

Doctors went on an indefinite strike for redressal of their demands which include higher stipends and better living conditions at hospitals.

The government has so far terminated the services of the doctors who are on strike and have also issued notices asking them to leave their hostels in medical college campuses.

Source : Hindu News Update Service.

30,000 teachers in Maharashtra on strike from July 14

Around 30,000 University and college teachers across Maharashtra will go on indefinite 'cease work' strike from tomorrow demanding implementation of 6th pay Commission and regularisation of around 10,000 teachers affected by NET/SET from 1991 and 2000 among others.

The teachers are forced to hold `cease work', as the promises made in the Legislative council on June 4 are not being fulfilled, secretary of Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers' organisations (MFUCTO)Prof Tapati Mukhopadhayay told reporters.

Tomorrow the `cease work' will begin at 6.30 am and "the metropolis is already on the move and the teachers are determined to get the genuine benefits due to them from the government, she said.

This is also to express their resent and protest against the state government's failure to implement its several long pending demands.

Under the banner of the MFUCTO, a conglomeration of 10 teachers' unions in the state, the teachers will stop working from tomorrow for an indefinite time, the Federation president Prof C R Sadasivan said.

On June 4, the Minister for higher and technical education Rajesh Tope assured in the Legislative council to implement 6th pay commission recommendations for university and college teachers by mid-July.

If implemented, the teachers will get a 30 per cent hike and the arrears for the last three years that comes to a total of around Rs 1500 crore.

"The strike is to make the government realise that our demands like implementation of 6th Pay Commission, resolving the long-pending demands of the academic community including the problem of National Eligibility Test (NET) and State Eligibility Test (SET) qualification condition wrongly introduced on about 10,000 teachers retrospectively are to be taken seriously by the state," Sadasivan said.

The Maharashtra state has not implemented Sixth pay Commission revised pay scales for teachers in spite of Central financial assistance communicated through directions of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and University Grants Commission to do so and pay 40 per cent of arrears immediately and claim the amount by March 31 this year, he said.

The teachers Federation also demanded for uniform leave package which was advocated by the UGC and other demands which were due from 5th pay commission.

"We are also opposing corrupt practices in admissions, which denies the interest of merit-based admission in the universities and colleges," he said.

MFUCTO president said that the Federation sent a series of letters from February 2009, to Maharashtra Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Tope, the Secretary in the Department J S Saharia, and copy to the Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

The Federation has sent their letters of original Movement in April and in June and even gave a call of mass casual leave on July 6 to make the government realise their demands.

"Since there was no response from the government, we have decided to go on strike. But we want to make it clear that we wanted to avoid the indefinite 'cease work' because it will have far reaching impact on the academic calender and student community when the universities and colleges have begun the academic year 2009-10," Mukhopadhayay said.

"It is still not late for the government to invite us for debate, " he said.

It is unfortunate that the Minister has promised the teachers on the floor of the House that he will take up the issue immediately and introduce a Government Resolution, but alleged that the bureaucracy is determined to create obstacles to the process, Sadasivan added.

Meanwhile, the officials from the Department of higher and technical education said the teachers have been already told that the matter is under consideration.
Source : Samay Live.

Four universities in Jammu & Kashmir to get revised pay from July, N o pay hike for Orissa State Road Transport Corporation staff now

Jammu & Kashmir

As per the Sixth Pay Commission, employees of four universities will now get revised remuneration from this month.

The decision was taken at a meeting held recently organized by Governor, N.N. Vohra, who is the Chancellor of the state universities including the agricultural universities.

The meeting was illuminated by Chief Minister and Pro-Chancellor of all state universities Omar Abdullah, Chief Secretary SS Kapur, Vice-Chancellors of the Jammu & Kashmir universities and Vice-Chancellors of the Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir and the SKUAST, Jammu.

An internal exercise for generating additional resources and effectively restraining non-productive expenditure simultaneously with an objective to improve the finances of the universities was insisted by Vohra earlier.

Mr. Abdullah emphasized on the need of augmenting agricultural production in the state.

He beseeched the Vice-Chancellors of the agricultural universities to espouse at least one district in their respective jurisdiction on a pilot project basis.

"Such pilot projects will act as a model for other areas to achieve the necessary aim of enhancing the productivity in a time bound period," added Abdullah.
Source : Indiaedunews.net.

Orissa

Minister of State for Commerce and Transport Sanjib Kumar Sahu today said that the State Government will consider giving salary to the employees of the Orissa State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) as per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission if the financial condition of the corporation improved.Replying to a question from Ramesh Chandra Chau Patnaik (BJD), the Minister, however, said the State Government did not have any such proposal now. The employees of the OSRTC are now getting salary as per the Fifth Pay Commission as the finances of the undertaking are not sound, he said.
Source : Expressbuzz.

Central Excise Inspectors to agitate from 15th July to achieve "legitimate demands'"

The Inspectors of Central Excise are highly aggrieved by the inaction of the Ministry of Finance in resolving the legitimate demands made in respect of the following points.
1. The non rectification of anomaly in the pay scale consequent to the merger of 3 pay scales by the CCS (RP) Rules, 2008 thereby placing the feeder cadre of Senior Tax Assistant and the promotional cadre of Inspector in the same grade pay.
2. The denial of notional fixation with effect from 01.01.1996 in the pre-revised scale of Rs. 6500-10500/-. The scale was granted on 21.04.04 in order to restore historical parity of pay scales with Inspectors of CBI & IB.
3. To review the clarification issued by DOE to CBEC denying the non-functional grade pay of Rs. 5400/- after 4 years of service in the grade pay of Rs. 4800/- to ACP recipient Inspectors.
4. Lack of initiatives to remove acute stagnation of the cadre of Inspector of Central Excise and for non inclusion of Inspector cadre organization in the restructuring committee.
5. Non - inclusion of Inspector cadre organization in the Anomaly committee.

Demonstration Programme.

1. Lunch Hour Demonstration in front of Chief Commissioner’s/ Commissioner’s offices through out the country, that should start from 15th July and it will be observed on every Wednesday in every head quarters for one month.
2. 25th to 28th of August wearing of Black Badges and Lunch hour Dharna in front the above mentioned Offices.
3. Memorandum is to be submitted on 28th in front of All chief commissioners for onward transmission to the Ministry.
4. Sending of post cards to Cabinet Secretary and Finance Minister on 9th of September.
5. Lunch our demonstrations will continue on every week followed by massive poster campaign with the mention of a probable strike action.
6. Pay boycott on 30th of September.

1.7 lakh vacancies in railways, says Mamata

Indian Railways has over 1.7 lakh vacancies which will be filled after the current recruitment process is reviewed, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Replying to questions, she said the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) is being reviewed. "We have to examine (the recruitment process) and address lacunae. We will come back once we have done the review."

She said there were issues of regional aspirations and problems in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Guwahati over RRB exams. "We are reviewing the entire process."

Of the total sanctioned strength of 15,66,964 employees, there were 1,72,444 vacancies, she said. Most of the vacancies were in Group 'C' at 1,12,566, followed by Group 'D' at 58,329. There are 1,549 vacancies in A and B, she said.

"Any large organisation like the Railways will have certain vacancies at any point of time. Arising of and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process," she said. "Vacancies arise due to normal retirement, voluntary retirements, deaths, promotions or creation of posts. Vacancies are filled primarily through open market recruitment and promotions."

To a separate question, she said there was a backlog of 1,814 vacancies of SCs in Group 'C' service of the Railways and 1,688 for STs. There is no backlog of vacancies of SC and ST in recruitment for Group A and B.

Ms. Banerjee said special recruitment drive will be launched to fill SC and ST vacancies at the earliest.

Railways employs 13,94,520 regular employees with the highest number of 9,07,510 in Group 'C'. Group 'D' has 4,70,879 regular employees. In Group 'A' and 'B' there are 7,968 and 8,163 regular employees respectively.

"Outsourcing (of jobs) is resorted to where technical expertise is not available in Railways," she said.

"Earlier, outsourcing was done in areas of catering and cleanliness of stations. We have received some complaints and it has now been decided to introduce departmental catering in Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains," she said.

"If this is successful, it will be extended gradually to other trains," she said.

Source : The Hindu.