Punjab HED makes important announcement about universities staff salaries

LAHORE: The Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab on Tuesday informed vice-chancellors (VCs) of public sector universities of the province that employees of the universities were not entitled to a grant of 15% special allowance.

The HED Punjab had sought advice from the Finance Department Punjab regarding the admissibility of special allowance-2022 to the employees of autonomous bodies.

“I am directed to refer to the subject cited above and to state that advice regarding admissibility of special allowance-2022 to the employees of autonomous bodies i.e. universities have been received from Govt of the Punjab, Finance Department, vide letter No. SO (C) Misc-1/21 (Temp), dated 08.03.2023 in which it is clarified that in the instant case, universities are autonomous bodies under the administrative control of HED."

"The employees of universities are not civil servants; hence they are not entitled to grant of 15% special allowance as per the letter of the Finance Department bearing No. FD.SR.V.3-1/2021, dated 20.07.2022”, the HED Punjab's note to the VCs read.

It is pertinent to mention that Academic Staff Associations (ASAs) of public universities, including Punjab University’s ASA (PU-ASA), had already expressed concerns over the Finance Department’s point of view and had demanded the grant of a 15% special allowance to the employees of universities in the wake of ever-increasing inflation.