Ludhiana: PAUTA agitation over UGC pay scale enters Day 15

The agitation entered day 15 on Thursday; the teachers have been demanding the revision of their allowances and gratuity as per University Grants Commission seventh pay commission recommendations

The Punjab Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (PAUTA) observed the Teachers’ Day on Thursday as “Black Day” as part of their ongoing agitation.

Members of PAUTA protesting outside vice-chancellor's office in Ludhiana on Thursday. (Manish/HT)

The agitation entered day 15 on Thursday. The teachers have been demanding the revision of their allowances and gratuity as per University Grants Commission (UGC) seventh pay commission recommendations, payment of arrears from January 2016 till July 2023, when the recommendations were implemented (just for basic pay), pay parity for the faculty hired after 2016, old pension scheme for those hired before July 2012, revision of pension of those who retire before 2016 and payment of pending dearness allowance instalments.

While for most of the universities in the rest of the country, the recommendations were put into practice in 2018, in Punjab the state government kept putting it off till October 2022, when they were adopted by varsities under the higher education department: Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar), Punjab University (Chandigarh), and Punjabi University (Patiala). However, PAU and GADVASU, which fall under the agriculture and veterinary department, respectively, were asked to make their cases separately.

In April 2023, the recommendations were accepted for PAU, but only partially. The basic salary of the teaching staff was revised but the allowances remained the same.

PAUTA president Dr Mandeep Gill said, “The government had allowed the autonomous bodies in the state to extend the benefits of OPS to the employees hired before 8, July, 2012. In 2017, the university’s apex body, board of management, also accepted this in principle but than the government stopped this.”

“Meanwhile, Punjabi University Patiala has implement this. Why this paradox in treatment with the employees in two universities,” he asked.