Higher pay for IIT, IIM faculty soon

Teachers in Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management may expect fat pay packages, better than their counterparts in universities and colleges, as the government is likely to take the issue of their revised salary to the Cabinet this week.

The Pay Review Committee, headed by Prof Goverdhan Mehta, set up for faculty members of central technical institutes like IITs and IIMs had submitted its report to the HRD ministry in February this year.

The government then set up another committee to study the recommendations and make final suggestions on salaries and perks for the teachers of 53 central technical educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs.

The committee had suggested a better package for these teachers as against the faculty members of universities and colleges.

"A Cabinet note has been prepared and the matter may be moved to the cabinet this week," a top ministry official said.

The Goverdhan Mehta Committee will also submit another report on salary package for faculty of AICTE-affiliated institutes.

The committee, which was supposed to submit the report by May end, has been given extension till June 30.

The committee has addressed the major issue of retention of teachers and attracting more scholars to join teaching and research at these premier institutes.

There are several vacancies in teaching posts in the IITs and IIMs. The posts are lying vacant in view of unavailability of qualified personnel for the job.

However, the government hopes that the problem of teachers' vacancy would not continue in the long run.

About 50,000 PhD scholars are coming out of different institutes every year. But because of the global meltdown and financial crisis, most of these scholars will have take up jobs in the domestic sector, the official said.

The committee recommendations would be of vital importance as the government has decided to expand the technical educational institutions in a big way. The

government has decided to set up eight IITs, seven IIMs and 20 IITs across the country. Some of these institutions have already started functioning from last year.

The IITs have made an estimate that they will need about 3,000 teachers in the next 10 years to manage teaching and research activities.