Bangalore college lecturers to get richer this New Year

The state government will soon clear the 51 months’ salary arrears of lecturers of the Department of Higher Education.

A notification on clearing arrears has been issued, minister for higher education Aravind Limbavali said here on Thursday. With this notification, the state government will release its share of the amount due to the college lecturers.

The arrears are subsequent to a government decision to retrospectively increase their salary by 38%. More than 18,500 lecturers in the state will benefit from this hike.
The pay raise was announced as part of implementing the Sixth Pay Commission recommendation that the lecturers salary be made on par with the University Grants Commission pay scale.

Besides the hike in remuneration, the pay panel had also recommended the enhancement of the retirement age of college teachers. Accepting this recommendation, the government will increase the retirement age to 62 from the current 60, effective from September 25, 2009.

It was earlier announced that the central government will pay 80% of the arrears for the period from January 2006 to March 2010, while the state will contribute the rest. The arrears amount to over Rs950 crore.

From April next year onwards, the state will pay the revised scale to lecturers, putting an additional burden of 30% on the exchequer, Limbavali told the media.

With the revised pay scale, an associate professor in Bangalore will get a total pay of Rs31,300 each month, while a professor will take home Rs63,500. The house rent and city compensation allowances are also increased to make it on par with the UGC scale. The college teachers are also eligible for pension, leave travel concession and medical allowance like any other government employee, Limbavali said.

Those casual lecturers, whose services have been regularised, are also entitled to the pay hike. The recently appointed lecturers will be eligible for the raise on completion of their probation period.

The lectures will be trained under the Sahayog scheme in 300 colleges across the state from January 20.