Memorandum Aug23 2009 Aiiitff

All India IIT Faculty Federation

 

Memorandum to MHRD for revising the revised pay scales notified for Centrally Funded Technical Institutions Reference: MHRD notification F.No. 23-1/2008-TS.11 dated 18.8.2009 No. AIIITFF/2009 /IITD-III

Dated: August 23, 2009

In the wake of Government's notification of the new pay and perks (6th Pay Commission) for IIT faculty, the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) held an emergency meeting on August 23, 2009 in IIT Madras. It was unanimously voiced that pay structure proposed is unacceptable and is a threat to the IIT system. AIIITFF submits the following memorandum to MHRD for keeping the notification (MHRD Office Order No. F.No. 23-1/2008-TS.II dated 18th August 2009) under abeyance until the revised notification is issued, after incorporating the demands raised by the members of the Faculty Fora of all the IITs. The observations and the demands are given below: 1. Lecturer/Post Doctoral fellow Lecturer position should be abolished, which was already suggested by the 5th CPC. Existing lecturers can be re-designated as Assistant Professors at an appropriate scale. 2. Assistant Professor i. Recruitment of Ph.Ds with less than 3 years of experience: To start in PB-3 with minimum pay of Rs. 30,000 (AGP 8000). With 3 years of experience, to move to PB4 (AGP 9000). ii. Recruitment of Ph.D with 3 years of teaching/ research/ industrial experience excluding however, the experience gained while pursuing Ph.D: to start in PB-4 (AGP 9,000). (Annexure I – Item 1) iii. Qualifications: Ph.D with first class or equivalent in the preceding degree in the appropriate branch with a consistently good academic record throughout. (Annexure I – Item 2) 3. Associate Professor i. To be appointed in PB-4 with AGP of Rs 10,000 per month for direct recruits, with a minimum pay to be fixed at Rs 42,800. ii. Qualifications: Ph.D with first class or equivalent in the preceding degree in the appropriate branch with a consistently good academic record throughout and at least 6 years of teaching/ research/ industrial experience.

4. Professor i. To be appointed in PB-4 with AGP of Rs 11,000 for direct recruits, with a minimum pay to be fixed at Rs 48,000. ii. With 6 years of service in the post of Professor, he/she should be placed in the AGP of Rs 12,000. No limit in number of Professors to be moved to this higher AGP. (Annexure I – Item 3) iii. Qualification: Ph.D with first class or equivalent in the preceding degree in the appropriate branch with a consistently good academic record throughout and with minimum of 10 years of teaching/ research/ industrial experience. 5. Professional development allowance Professional development allowance (PDA) of Rs 3,00,000 (given for International/National Conference, Contingency, Membership fees) does not correspond with the increase in the costs. It should be increased to 5 lakhs for a block of 3 years. DA linked enhancement should be there as for other allowances. 6. Scholastic/ Special Allowance: Rs. 15,000 per month should be given to all faculty irrespective of position or experience (in line with 20-30% being given by DAE/ISRO/DRDO etc.) 7. Scientific and Design Staff: i. Scientific/Design staff in the pre-revised scales of 8000 basic to be placed in PB3 (AGP 6000). Those with 10,000 basic to be placed in PB3 (AGP 7000) ii. Scientific/Design staff in the pre-revised scales of 12000, 16400 and 18400 is to be placed in the same pay band and AGP as applicable to Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor respectively. 8. Perks i. Faculty and staff members currently covered by CPF scheme should be given another chance to opt for GPF scheme. ii. Medical facilities available to faculty both during service and post retirement are an important consideration in attracting and retaining quality faculty. Expenditure on medical care is a very small fraction of the salary and the other expenditure incurred by the Government to maintain the IIT system. The federation strongly requests that all expenditure in this regard should be met by the Government.

Annexure-I 1. Ph.D with 3 years of experience as well as a very good academic record is specified for entry level as Assistant Professor. This implies anywhere from 7 to 10 years additional education and work. Moreover, it is completely discriminatory that the option of moving to PB4, available in UGC for the Rs. 12,000 starting scale (readers or lecturers (SG) before revision), is not available to IIT Assistant Professors. 2. It should be recognized that IITs compete globally to recruit its faculty. Not only a large fraction of IIT faculty have Ph.D or Post doctoral experience from leading educational/research Institutions abroad, but even those recruited in India have global options. Especially at the entry level, we need to compete globally. If in a discipline fresh Ph.Ds or those with just one year experience have an option to join as Assistant Professor elsewhere, IITs should have an option of matching it. This freedom had always been available to the IITs and they have used it judiciously in the last three decades to attract the best talent. Thus specifying explicitly “excluding however the experience gained while pursing Ph.D” will make IITs uncompetitive in a number of disciplines. This could have a major impact on existing IITs but a disastrous effect in new IITs. Incidentally, this is in complete contrast with UGC recommendations where it is clearly recognized that Assistant Professors would be recruited after Net and can continue with career progression as well as work for their Ph.Ds. 3. One clear reason for the success of the IIT system is the flexible cadre structure. Each faculty member is free to rise in the academic ladder based on his/her performance irrespective of number of senior faculty. It is a great motivator and is employed today universally by all research based educational Institutions. While accepting progression from one AGP to a higher AGP for Professors, we reject the cap of 40% as per the notification (or any other value) as it goes against the spirit of flexible cadre structure.