New Delhi: The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), whose teachers went on a mass casual leave last month to protest the Union government’s notification on their salary structure, have now received a revised notification enhancing compensation of its teachers at the entry level.
In the notification issued on Wednesday by the ministry of human resource development, which oversses education, all the posts of lecturers-cum post-doctoral fellows have been redesignated as assistant professors to be filled up on contractual basis.
The assistant professors in the IITs, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will also move to a payscale of Rs37,400-67,000 per month after completion of three years of service, with an academic grade pay of Rs9,000 per month, with designations remaining the same.
The ministry order also stipulates a “PhD degree with first class in the preceding degree” as the academic qualification for post of assistant professors, associate professors and professors and a minimum of 10 years experinece for post of professors with four years as assistant professors at the IITs, IIMs, IISc, NITIE Mumbai and IISERs.
Faculty at the IITs however complain that the order doesn’t address their key concerns relating to issues of autonomy. “The order addresses issues relating to lecturers’ cadres and salaries at entry level. However, it doesn’t really do much for the diluted assistant grade pay as was proposed in the Govardhan Mehta committee,” S.S. Murthy, chairman, IIT-Delhi faculty association, said.