No pension for fresh hiring in K-P varieties

HED directs payment of medical allowance, house rents at government rates

PESHAWAR:

Higher Education, Archives and Libraries Department has issued a notification to the public sector universities directing it to implement ‘no pension liability’ for all future initial recruitments in addition to other strict measures to overcome the rising deficit.

In a notification obtained by the Express Tribune the department also directed delinking of the pay scales from the basic pay scale scheme and university pay scale.

The notification further added that government grant and other resources meant for higher education shall not to be expended on meeting the shortfall of the schools run by the universities and these schools should have separate Board of Governors (BoG).

Furthermore house subsidy and requisition should be paid to the employees on the provincial government rates.

All the medical allowances in its current form have been abolished and shall be paid at the provincial government rates, says the notification, adding that the maintenance cost including repair, security and other facilities’ cost should be fully recovered from the employees provided with accommodation by the universities.

“The universities will be assisted in the process of exploring new avenues of financial resources including renting out academic blocks to other institutions,” says the notification.

Talking to the Express Tribune a university official on the condition of anonymity said that in the presence of University Act 2012, amended in 2016, all the incentives provided to the employees by the universities had completely been protected and in the presence of an act, no notification could change it including abolishing of the pension, house rents and medical allowances.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2021.