Chandigarh: Over 3,000 Panjab University pensioners stare at 10 years of unpaid arrears, warn of legal action | Hindustan Times (original) (raw)

Over 3,000 pensioners of Panjab University (PU) are yet to receive arrears of the revised pay scales that kicked in from January 1, 2016. This wait has stretched for years, even as the university cleared the same dues for its working staff in March 2025.

Beyond the arrears, the association has demanded office accommodation and the filling of vacant doctors’ posts at PU’s health centre. (HT Photo for representation)

Vice-chancellor Renu Vig said that the university had submitted a proposal to the Punjab government for the arrears. However, pensioners say that whenever they visit, university authorities have been telling them the state government is not releasing the funds.

Pensioners say that the delay is indefensible and that no official has been held accountable. The grievance cuts across two separate groups. The Panjab University Pensioners Welfare Association has flagged that the leave travel allowance (LTA) for the block periods 2016–18, 2018–20, and 2020–22 was paid on old scales, despite pensioners already drawing revised pay. Furthermore, the LTA for 2022–24 remains entirely pending.

A separate group of over 530 retired professors, who superannuated before January 1, 2016, say that pension revision as per the 7th UGC Pay Commission has not been implemented despite Punjab government issuing the notification in April 2025, and PU’s finance board adopting it in October, 2025.

Despite multiple letters and emails to the VC’s office, pensioners say not a single reply has been received. They also said that the university also has no grievance redressal cell for pensioners-unlike all government departments, leaving them with no formal channel to raise their concerns.

Adding to the resentment, similarly placed retirees of Punjabi University in Patiala and Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, as well as teachers of all Punjab government colleges, have already received identical benefits.

Beyond the arrears, the association has demanded office accommodation, the filling of vacant doctors’ posts at PU’s health centre, and the nomination of its office-bearers to university committees related to pensioners. Both groups have warned that they will approach the Punjab and Haryana high court if the matter is not resolved. They noted that many of those affected are in their eighties and nineties, and the wait, they say, has already outlived some of them.