Cuttack: The Ravenshaw University Teachers’ Association (RUTA) is planning to launch a massive protest against alleged discrepancies in salaries of professors working in various universities across the state.
“The state government is adopting dual policies while fixing salaries and laying down principles for appointment of professors in various universities across the state. The policies adopted by the government for one university is different from another. This mismanagement has been continuing for the past one decade, much to the disappointment of the professors,” said RUTA secretary Bikram Keshari Mishra Saturday, adding “We will soon launch a protest against the dual policies of the government.”
Mishra said there are huge inconsistencies in the policies adopted by the state government for the universities. For instance, the government in 2010 had issued a gazetted notification that a reader of state university will be promoted to associate professor five years after appointment. While some universities, including Ravenshaw, got the permission to implement the principles, some other varsities were excluded from it. Due to the inconsistencies in the policy, the Orissa High Court had declared the five-year promotion policy for reader null and void.
Moreover, there are inconsistencies in the initial pay scale of readers. While the readers of some universities, including Ravenshaw, draw a salary of Rs 22,320 initially, the initial pay is Rs 15,600 for readers who are appointed in Sambalpur and Berhampur universities.
The future of university professors is hanging in balance due to the dual policies of the government, alleged the association members.
Now the government is coming up with another new policy. It is learnt that as per the policy, the professors who got appointment after 2015 will get more seniority than the professors who were appointed earlier. Resentment is brewing among the professors over for the new policies, the varsity teachers said.
“We will launch a massive protest unless the government adopt a clear policy in this regard,” Mishra added.
PNN
