IIM faculty wants pay hike, NIT teachers do not want to be second in pay row.

After the IITs, its now the turn of the country’s premier management institutes, the IIMs, to raise the banner of revolt against the pay hikes for their faculty, recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission. Peeved by the short shrift given to them by the government, the faculty members of the elite Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad have decided to approach the Centre within a week with demands for the upgrade of their pay packages.

At a two-hour long faculty committee meeting spearheaded by IIM-A director Sameer Baruah, a decision has been taken to seek redressal from the Centre failing which the IIM-A faculty will be forced to explore other stronger forms of agitation, including resorting to mass casual leave and strikes in line with what the faculty of the IITs are currently adopting. The IIM-A faculty is planning to work in tandem with the other two older IIMs, namely IIM Bangalore and IIM Kolkata, to work out a strategy of making their displeasure felt. “We are not banking on the support of the newer IIMs as they are likely to be browbeaten by the centre into towing its line given their dependence on the centre for their funds,” revealed a senior faculty member on condition of anonymity.

He further disclosed that there was major disgruntlement within the IIM-A against the Sixth Pay Commission notification received last week from the Centre. “Though the exact implications are still being worked out and the salary hike will range anywhere between 15 to 40% depending on parameters like number of years of service etc, one thing is clear. We’ve not been given our due as a premier institute both by the government and the bureaucracy,” the professor said.

According to him, the IIMs have not been given their due as the best management institutes in the country. “While earlier as per the old scale, an assistant professor of an IIT or IIM was paid two to three levels above the UGC grade, the Sixth Pay Commission has downgraded this difference. What is the rationale for doing this given the fact that we are institutes of excellence,” he asked.

Furthermore, the faculty members also felt that if the country really needed world-class institutes, the salaries should be commensurate with the that. For instance, they demanded parity of salaries with the salaries being paid to the Secretaries to the Centre and the top executives of navratnas and public sector...