Doctors' arrears: Government refuses to yield 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Finance Department has clarified that it cannot take a decision on the issue of salary revision arrears specifically for government medical college doctors. University teachers in Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, and AYUSH also have salary revision arrears to be paid. About 750 crores are to be received from the Central Government in this regard. Efforts are ongoing for this. About 2500 crores will have to be found to pay the salary revision arrears for all the categories. Of this, 400 crores are to be paid to government doctors alone.

The doctors are to be paid the salary revision arrears from 2016 to 2020. The doctors' stance is that it is not right to treat other categories and the important category that worked during the Covid period equally.

The dispute over the 7th UGC salary revision arrears of university/college teachers in Kerala continues to be complicated. The arrears amounting to Rs 1,500 crore are to be received. The Central Government was supposed to pay 50% of the arrears of Rs 750 crore from January 1, 2016 to March 31, 2019. The Centre has clarified that this amount cannot be paid as applications were not submitted by March 31, 2022. The state government had issued an order in 2021 to deposit the arrears in the PF accounts of teachers, but due to the financial crisis, it was frozen indefinitely in 2023. The state government had promised last year to issue an order to pay the doctors' salary revision arrears, but could not keep its promise due to the financial crisis.