Pension scheme for BPS faculty opposed

Islamabad: Executive Council (EC) of Academic Staff Association (ASA), Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), has demanded that the existing BPS structure should be refined rather than replaced to remove procedural hurdles and ensure that the legitimate demands of current BPS faculty members are addressed effectively.

According to the minutes, reiterating the policy of Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA), the EC members during the meeting said that faculty members are not demanding a new system rather they are seeking improvements in the existing BPS and TTS structures.

Regarding the TTS system, the House had an extensive discussion on several key issues, including salary, job security and retirement benefits. Faculty members expressed strong concerns over the stagnation of salaries and proposed that TTS faculty should be given one time a significant salary raise and in future salary increases be linked to the annual budget, ensuring that TTS faculty members receive increments in line with other government employees.

The issue of job security was highlighted as a major concern, and it was suggested that TTS faculty should be entitled to a contributory pension scheme and be included in the government’s in-service assistance package.

But the EC strongly opposed the implementation of the contributory pension scheme for existing BPS faculty members and urged the ASA Cabinet to take up the matter with the university administration as a matter of priority.

ASA’s clear stance is that the existing pension rules should remain unchanged for current BPS faculty at QAU for those who apply through proper channel. It was recommended that a time-scale promotion mechanism be introduced to ensure fair and timely career progression. About TTS, it was also agreed that promotion should not be strictly time bound.