BENGALURU: Professors in government colleges that come under the Department of Collegiate Education (DCE), who hold PhD degrees, have been running from pillar to post since 2015, ever since the state government issued a notification stating that teachers with PhDs will get their first promotion only if they have not received a salary increment.
‘’As per UGC rules, an assistant professor having a PhD degree is eligible to get theirfirst placement after completing four years of service. However, the state government inserted a clause saying these lecturers would get this promotion only if they have not received their hikes. Usually, on appointment, a professor holding PhD will get four hikes. Because of this clause, our promotion is delayed and is given after six years instead of four along with professors who don’t have PhD,” said a professor in a government college in Bengaluru. “The universities of Karnataka that come under Higher Education Department have followed the UGC regulations, but the DCE is not ready to follow. This is a violation of UGC guidelines,” he added.
“In 2017, some of us suddenly stopped receiving increments and we realised it when we got our payslips,” said a teacher. “In response to a query from registrar of Mangalore University, the UGC even clarified on September 5, 2018 that there is no correlation between promotions and hikes for teachers with PhD,” said a teacher from Mysuru.
On December 7, 2018, the UGC issued a public notice that reads,”The commission has approved that non-compounded increments for PhD degree holders shall be admissible along with benefits of the number of years required for promotion.” Copies of both letters are with TNIE.An official from Higher Education Department said,” The matter has been forwarded to the Finance Department for their concurrence on exempting teachers with PhD degrees from this clause.
“The matter is complicated. It is not mandatory for state government to follow UGC rules. The Finance Department has asked us for some clarification and we are yet to respond to it with additional details. This matter will be resolved but we do not have a deadline. The issue of delay in increments will also be resolved once this issue is solved,” the official said.
Anirudh Sravan, Commissioner, DCE said,” We are aware of the issue but a decision has to be taken at the secretary level. We have made some observations from our side only.” He refused to comment on what the observations were.Rajkumar Khatri, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, was unavailable for comment.