National Institutes of Technology faculty seeks pay parity with those of Indian Institute of Technology. In a meeting with Kapil Sibal, Human Resource Development Minister, the NIT directors put strong rejection against differential pay structure. The meeting, which was scheduled as a courtesy call soon turned itself into a forum where the directors went on to demand same pay packet.
The pay panel for central technical institutes, which is headed by Goverdhan Mehta, former Indian Institute of Science Director, recommended continuing with the tradition of differential pay structure. The demand of the NIT directors comes as a consequence of it.
National Institutes of Technology which has the claim of ‘Institutes of National Importance’ strongly argues that there can be no discrimination between institutions funded by the Government. One of the NIT directors has come out with a valid point. He is of the opinion that if all centrally funded universities can have the same pay scale why can’t all the technical institutes enjoy the same benefit. They have also put forward the point that lower pay scale is preventing them from competing with IIT faculty as ‘top teachers’.
The Mehta Committee has recommended a pay hike for all but they opine that varied faculty structure at Indian Institute of Technology and National Institutes of Technology make it difficult to come up with a similar salary structure. The Indian Institute of Technology and National Institutes of Technology follow a four tier and three tier faculty structures respectively; therein lay the difference and the problem.
