In a memorandum, to be submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on Monday, faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have expressed their displeasure at being on the same pay scales as that of the faculty members under the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The faculty council of IIM-A, in a draft submitted to the director of the institute today, has demanded almost double the salary entitled to them, in order to remove the parity that comes after the revision under the Sixth Pay Commission.
The draft has further requested for a “reconsideration of entry-level pay in order to attract and retain world-class talent at this centre of excellence,” according to sources close to the development.
“Giving the pay mentioned by the ministry to such senior people from a premier institute is unfair as the faculty has worked for longer years to get to this place and deserve to be well-compensated. Already, there is hardly any demarcation between the other national universities and IIMs because of the pay structure, and the recent development has only added salt to the wounds. Although going the IIT way is not on our agenda now, we have requested the ministry for a reconsideration,” a senior faculty member at IIM-A said.
The faculty added that the draft also requested the government to reconsider the entry-level pay for the assistant professors as otherwise there would be parity between a student and an assistant professor’s salary, with time.
The draft mentions that the salary hike is expected to range between 20 per cent and 40 per cent, however, depending on the years of experience and other parameters, another source added. “We met the director and have submitted the report to him,” said Sanjay Varma, an IIM-A faculty, and one of the committee members appointed to look into the pay structure recommendations for the faculty of the institute.
When contacted, IIM-A Director Samir Barua said: “The memorandum regarding the pay revision will be submitted to the HRD ministry on Monday.” The demands of the IIM-A faculty come after the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) faculty members demanded a higher pay band.
Faculty members of IITs had recently gone on a mass casual leave to protest against the new pay regime passed by the union cabinet last month.
