ISLAMABAD - The universities, financed by the Higher Education Commission (HE-C), are unable to pay increased salaries to their employees as per the Federal Government’s decision in the budget for the year 2010-2011, which was to be effective from July 1, 2010.
HEC claims that the allocations for the current financial year do not include the funds required for paying additional 50 percent of the salaries that would be due from August 1, 2010 when the salary for the month of July is to be paid.
Professor Fateh Moham-mad Malik, Rector International Islamic University Isla-mabad (IIUI), while talking to TheNation said that IIUI had paid fifty percent increased salaries to its lower staff (BPS1 to 16) but it would not give the fifty percent increment to its senior officers. He was of the view that HEC had advised them to generate own resources to meet that increment in the salaries of the staff. However, the said increment would only be given to the senior officers after having proper resources, he maintained.
Similarly, Vice Chancellor of Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Dr Masoom Yas-inzai, while addressing the protesting staff on Friday, categorically said that QAU needed three hundred million rupees in order to pay the increased salaries to its staff, adding that unless Higher Education Commission would give this amount to the university, the increased salary structure might not be implemented.
Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) has also announced to observe black day on August 3 against the budgetary cuts imposed by the government on the Higher Education Commission which has put the development projects on hold. It is also feared that if the present situation, with regard to budgetary cuts, is not improved the universities would not be able to pay the salaries to their employees after couple of months.Nation