Tirupati: College teachers' wait for arrears gets longer

Tirupati: There appears to be no end to the long wait for over 10,000 teaching faculty under UGC pay-scales in Andhra Pradesh for getting the 7th Central pay commission arrears which is given once every 10 years.

Though the 7th pay commission recommendations were due in 2016, the Central government has delayed its implementation and dragged it till March 2019. Finally, on July 7, 2020, Rs 255.51 crore out of its share of Rs 344.31 crore as first instalment for revision of pay scales of teachers and other equivalent cadres was released.

Consequently, the State Government on February 9, released a GO giving administrative sanction for Rs 503 crore by including its matching grant to the Central government's share. But it is now learnt that the treasury has refused to clear the arrears stating that they have not received any directions from the government. Interestingly, though, the staff were given the code of the payment. The state Convenor of Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM) Prof YV Rami Reddy told The Hans India that the state government's attitude was 'unjust'. He said that they had sought the intervention of the UGC by submitting a representation to its Chairman Prof DP Singh last week.

The UGC Chairman assured ABRSM that they will seek clarification from the State Government over the issue and ask them to submit the utilisation certificate for the Rs 251.55 crore. Meanwhile, some retired faculty filed a petition in the AP High Court for releasing arrears. Of the 10,000 staff, about 6,000 are retired staff.

The retired teachers along with other government staff in the State were not getting their gratuity and other pensionary benefits for over two years and some of them have even died waiting for the arrears. In some universities, the pension fixation also was taking around one year and the arrears are yet to be paid to the staff after that fixation.