SHIMLA: Over 3000 college and university teachers have upped their ante against the state government which has failed to implement the overdue UGC play scales in the state, even as the delegation was assured by Chief Minister last month that the government would treat their demand sympathetically.
The agitated teachers hold the online meeting of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of all university and college teachers under the chairmanship of Dr. Kulbhushan Chandel and passed resolutions threatening to take to the streets if the state government did not implement its assurance to the teachers in the shortest possible time.
The teachers are all the more anguished as the Himachal Pradesh is the only state in India, which has not implemented the UGC pay- scales for the college and university teachers, who are the backbone of higher education in the state.
The state government, on the one side, has given the pay scales to all its employees, but it has denied the college and university teachers their overdue benefits, Chandel said. “College and university teachers are governed by the UGC pay-scales. In our case, 50 percent of total liability of first five years will be borne by the UGC and the rest by the state government. Incidentally, the state government has already given 21 percent as IR and as such, the current liability for the state government is only 30 percent. We are only about 3000 teachers in colleges and in three state universities, who have been kept out from the new pay-scales ”, rued the teachers.
JAC passed a resolution that as the government has adopted a stepmotherly attitude towards the teachers there has been a wave of despair among all the teachers. “In the meeting, Chief Minister was requested to personally give necessary instructions to the concerned officers in this regard to implement the recommendations of UGC Pay-Scales so that there is no further delay in this direction.
JAC decided that if the government adopts a stubborn attitude in this direction, then all the teachers may be forced to come out on the streets in support of their demands. “Today, the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission of the UGC have been implemented all over India and Himachal Pradesh is the only state where no decision has been taken in this regard so far”, JAC claimed.
A resolution was passed unanimously in the meeting that through all the teachers' unions, the next framework would be ensured in all the educational institutions together.
Prof. KD Sharma, Prof. Janardan Singh, Prof. Shyam Lal, Dr. Dharamveer Thakur, Prof. Ramesh Bhardwaj, Prof. Kuldeep Kumar, Prof. Sukhdev, Dr. Ram Lal Sharma, Dr. Joginder Saklani, mainly others participated in the meeting.
