College teachers strike deal with Govt, to resume classes
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 07 2021:
A day after agitating college teachers' signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government on the 7th UGC Pay issue, FEGOCTA (Federation of Government College Teachers' Associations) has announced that physical classes in colleges will be resumed from Monday (March 8) .
In a statement, FEGOCTA said a new order regarding implementation of the 7th UGC Pay and Regulations, 2018 is expected to be issued in two weeks time.
It may be noted that the Higher Education Department had issued an order implementing the 7th UGC Pay on February 25 but hours after, FEGOCTA had rejected the same order claiming it was "incomplete" .
Since then, it has been reiterating that the Government should issue a fresh and complete order in line with a Cabinet decision taken on August 6, 2020 on the demand of the college teachers.
Notably, the latest MoU was signed during a meeting of the representatives of AMCTA (All Manipur College Teachers' Association) and FEGOCTA with Chief Minister N Biren Singh in the presence of Education Minister S Rajen, the Chief Secretary and the Commissioner (HTE) yesterday.
Besides the teachers agreeing to end their cease work strike, the MoU noted that the pay as per UGC 7th Pay Commission recommendations will be notional from January 1, 2016 .
Arrears for the period from April 1, 2019 to 31 March 2020 will be put into GPF in July 2021 .
Arrears for the period from April 1, 2020 to 31 March 2021 will be put into GPF in April 2022.Cash payment will be from April 1, 2021, payable in the month of July 2021 (Arrears for UGC 7th Pay for April-June 2021 will be payable in July 2021) .
Further, the MoU mentioned that no disciplinary action would be taken against any of the teachers who had participated in the strike.
Meanwhile, stating that the Government, as per August 6 Cabinet decision, had already agreed to adopt UGC Regulations, 2018 which prescribes the qualifications for recruitment, criteria for promotion, service conditions, duties of the teachers etc in the colleges, FEGOCTA appealed to the State Government to honour the MoU signed yesterday and issue the "complete order" for implementing 7th UGC Pay and Regulations, 2018 at the earliest.