The Kerala government has ordered the withdrawal of all advance increments granted to university and college teachers for acquiring higher qualifications under the seventh University Grants Commission (UGC)/All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) pay revision.
Increments sanctioned for MPhil, PhD and similar higher qualifications during the seventh UGC/AICTE regime will stand withdrawn with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016, according to an order recently issued by the Finance department.
The order states that any excess amount already disbursed will be “adjusted” against future dues such as arrears of DA revision or promotional arrears.
The government’s decision comes after years of ambiguity surrounding the admissibility of incentive increments. While UGC communications in 2017 had explicitly stated that no advance increments should be granted since higher qualifications were already factored into the Career Advancement Scheme, subsequent regulations issued by the UGC and the AICTE in 2018 and 2019 included provisions for such incentives.
The State government has formalised its position based on the findings submitted by a committee entrusted with studying the issue.
The order also introduces a structural reform which mandates that the UGC/AICTE pay revisions in the State be processed only after a Finance-department-constituted committee, comprising representatives from stakeholder departments, conducts a detailed analysis of academic requirements, financial implications and the State’s fiscal capacity. Notably, the Finance department will henceforth hold exclusive authority to issue pay revision orders.
Draws criticism
The directives have drawn criticism from various quarters, with stakeholders within the Higher Education department viewing the reform as an administrative overreach. “Academic qualifications, career progression norms, pay structures and all service-related matters pertaining to university and college faculty are governed by UGC/AICTE regulations and fall within the statutory jurisdiction of the Higher Education department, and not the Finance department,” a source said.
The formation of a Finance department panel for vetting pay revisions is also seen as an “encroachment” that violates established administrative boundaries and undermines the functional autonomy of the Higher Education department.
A teacher of a government-run college also lamented that such intensive scrutiny on Pay Commissions is applied only in the higher education sector. “Comparable Central pay revision schemes in other departments are implemented routinely without imposing additional layers of Finance department evaluation,” he said.
Published – December 01, 2025 07:46 pm IST
