Odisha govt prods colleges, varsities on salary revision

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has asked the director of higher education and the registrars of seven state universities to submit by June 20 a detailed calculation of additional liabilities from January 1, 2016, to March 31 this year after revision of salary according to the UGC pay scale.
The universities that have been asked to submit the details are Utkal University, Berhampur University, Sambalpur University, Ravenshaw University, Fakir Mohan University, North Odisha University and Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University.
Last year, the government had decided to revise the salary of state-run university and college teachers on the basis of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations starting from January 1, 2016. The higher education department had asked the universities to submit the calculation of arrears in March this year but the latter could not do so.
"This letter is a reminder to the university authorities. They could not submit the details on time because of Cyclone Fani. We hope they will submit them this time and the government can pay the arrears of the teachers," said a senior official of the higher education department.
The teachers have been requesting the government to pay them their pending arrears and revised salary. According to the revision decision, the teachers will get a hike between 2.57 and 2.72 times of their basic pay and average grade pay.
The Centre will reimburse 50 per cent of the arrears for the three years, while the rest will be paid by the state. "Other teachers in the state have received their revised salaries, but university teachers have not. We hope the government does not delay the process," said a member of the Federation of University Teachers Association.