Salaries, pensions stuck in Bihar varsities amid education department standoff

Last year, even during important festivals such as Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath, teachers and employees of even constituent colleges and universities had to go without salaries

Several university teachers in Bihar have reportedly not received salaries and those retired have not got their pensions for two to three months as the education department has allegedly not released funds amid a standoff with the state government. Some universities are believed to have released salaries payments through internal resources.

Representational image.

A few months ago, the then additional chief secretary (education) Dipak Kumar Singh had told the Patna high court that the department would work out a mechanism in consultation with vice-chancellors and related officials of universities to ensure timely pension payments.

However, things have not changed despite administration changes. Education minister Chandrashekhar attended the office for the first time on Tuesday ever since his ‘war of letters’ with new additional chief secretary KK Pathak.

“Pensions are lying due for two months and in some universities even three months. Salary payments are also due for two months. The department should first try to streamline these. At present, universities are working at less than half the sanctioned strength and still salary payments are stuck. Even the 7th pay arrear to retired teachers are pending,” federation of university teachers’ association of Bihar (FUTAB) working president KB Sinha and general secretary Sanjay Kumar said.

Last year, even during important festivals such as Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath, teachers and employees of even constituent colleges and universities had to go without salaries, triggering massive backlash after the government blamed it on the delay in submission of utilisation certificates.

A senior official of the education department, however, said that the process was in an advanced stage and the funds would be released in August for two months. “The proposal for the entire financial year was sent to the finance department last week itself. Once it is cleared, disbursal will not take much time. As far as pension arrears are concerned, additional funds of ₹330 crore have already been cleared and should be disbursed soon,” he said.

Sanjay Kumar, who is also an MLC, said he met state finance minister Vijay Kunar Choudhary on Monday to discuss the matter due to repeated phone calls over the delays.

“Unfortunately, the files were returned as they did not have the signature of the minister. Now, it will be sent to the minister and may take another week or so. The problem is that nobody is ready to follow the norms. When the minister’s signature is required, how and why is it sent without it? Is it a deliberate ploy to delay? Even DA for university teachers remains low at 34%, while it has reached 42% for Bihar government employees. Even the finance minister was surprised over the delays,” Kumar said.

In a letter to all V-Cs, Raj Bhavan joint secretary Praveen Kumar Gupta sought immediate action on matters relating to retirement benefits by pension cells in universities. A teacher who retired in March also awaits retirement benefits till now. The Raj Bhavan has also sought daily compliance reports from universities.