Ziraat Times Team Report
Says non-implementation of UGC pay violates Article 14; appeals to CM Omar Abdullah for intervention
Srinagar: Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Markandey Katju has urged Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to address what he termed as “serious injustice” being faced by contractual college teachers in the Union Territory.
In a public statement, Justice Katju said that many highly qualified teachers, including PhD holders, have been serving in government colleges for years on a contractual basis but are being paid only ₹28,000 per month, far below the University Grants Commission (UGC) norm of ₹57,700 for contractual or ad-hoc faculty.
“These highly qualified, but contractual, teachers are suffering in two ways,” Katju said. “They are underpaid, and their experience is not counted for future employment since it doesn’t meet UGC pay criteria.”
He noted that while the UGC salary norms are being implemented across India — including by the Government of Ladakh recently — the J&K government’s failure to do so amounts to a violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equal pay for equal work.
“The J&K government is flagrantly violating Article 14 of the Constitution. Equal work deserves equal pay, and there cannot be one rule for the rest of India and another for J&K,” Katju said.
Expressing disappointment that the issue has received little attention in the media, Justice Katju added,
“Since journalists and media outlets are not raising the justified demands of these teachers, I am doing it myself.”
