College teachers stage dharna, demand sixth pay commission arrears

Demanding payment of Sixth Pay Commission arrears and regularisation of services of lecturers (appointed between 1991 and 2000) affected by the National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Level Eligibility Test (SLET), among others, teachers from universities and colleges across Maharashtra staged a dharna at Azad Maidan on Wednesday.

The protest was called under the banner of Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers' Organisations (MFUCTO).

Earlier this year, teachers had boycotted assessment duty and called off the agitation over a month later after the state gave an assurance in writing that their demands will be met.

"An estimated 2,500 teachers protested at Azad Maidan. We have also submitted a memorandum of our demands to the state government, besides requesting a meeting with the chief minister and the higher and technical education minister," said Madhu Paranjape, general secretary of the Bombay University and College Teachers' Union (BUCTU).

Issuance of a Government Resolution (GR) to complete the process of fixation of placements benefits to all NET/SLET exempted teachers by counting their service from the first date of appointment and taking measures to implement Sixth Pay Commission scales for teachers in unaided engineering colleges are the other demands.

The teachers have also called for strict enforcement of existing orders by making monthly payment of salary to all college teachers on the first of each month.

"Our demands also include removal of defects and inconsistencies in the Government Resolution (dated November 24, 2011), of revised scales for teachers in aided non-government colleges of physical education, which was issued after a delay of 28 months, and extension of age of superannuation from 60 to 65 as per a Ministry of Human Resource Development notification, without any pre-condition. We also want the state to undo the injustice caused to teachers in colleges of social work, whose GR of revised scale was issued after a delay of 25 months, by immediate payment of arrears," said C R Sadasivan, BUCTU president.

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