The state government has issued an order announcing that college and university teachers would be paid according to the seventh central pay commission’s recommendations from January.

The order dashed the hopes of teachers who had expected the raise would be effective from January 2016, when the Centre had notified implementation of the recommendations.

After chief minister Mamata Banerjee had made it clear in November last year that the raise would be effected from January 2020 owing to a financial crunch, several teachers’ associations had petitioned the education department to reconsider the decision.

An official of the higher education department said the order was issued on December 30, two days before it would come into effect.

“The chief minister referred to the financial constraint coming in the way of implementing the hike from January 2016. The order was issued in accordance with the announcement,” the official said.

Mamata had made the announcement on November 5 while addressing a post-Puja get-together attended by around 15,000 teachers from across Bengal.

An assistant professor (at the starting level) would miss out on Rs 6.4 lakh for four years because of the order, said a teacher of Jadavpur University.

“The higher the rank, the greater is the loss,” said Keshab Bhattacharya, general secretary of the Left-backed West Bengal College and University Teachers’ Association.

On November 19, college and university teachers had set aside their political differences and stayed away from classes across several institutions in Bengal to protest the decision to implement the hike from January 2020.

Partha Pratim Ray, an associate professor at Jadavpur University, said the new order denied increments a candidate with a PhD or an MPhil degree would get on joining.

Page 5 of the order says: “There shall be no incentives in the form of advance increments for obtaining the degrees of MPhil or PhD with effect from January 2016.”

“When a teacher joins with a PhD, the person gets five increments. Similarly, MPhil degree holders get two increments on joining. But now they have withdrawn the increment in addition to denying the hike from January 2016. Denial of increment is in violation of UGC guidelines,” said Ray.

UGC regulation 2018 reads: “Five non-compounded advance increments shall be admissible at the entry level of recruitment as assistant professors possessing the degrees of PhD. MPhil degree-holders shall be entitled to two increments.” An official of the department said that they would examine the UGC’s order on increment.

A professor at Calcutta University, Parthiba Basu, said they would launch a protest against the denial of hike with effect from 2016.

“The Centre has announced that they would bear 50 per cent of the hike for the first three years and three months if state governments implement the seventh pay commission recommendations from January 2016. Since the Mamata Banerjee government will implement the hike from January 2020, it cannot even claim the Centre’s share,” said Basu.