By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government has finally approved payment of the arrears for teachers of both Government and deficit colleges with effect from January 1 2006 to December 31 2010.
As assured by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), the State Government would be initially paying only 20 per cent of the arrears, Education Minister Prof RC Laloo told reporters after a Cabinet meeting here on Thursday, while adding that the remaining 80 per cent of the arrears would be paid by the Centre.
It may be mentioned the Union HRD Ministry had put a condition to the State Government that they would release the funds for the arrears if they are going to increase the retirement age of college teachers to 65 years.
“We would urge the Centre not to link this increase of the age of retirement with the arrears. We would be requesting the Union HRD Ministry to speed up the process for releasing of the funds for the arrears,” Prof Laloo said.
With the implementation of the new pay scale, he said the teachers would be getting salaries ranging between Rs 30,000 and Rs 90,000.
The Education Minister said the total financial implication for payment of the arrears is Rs 70.57 crore, out of which the Centre would be paying a total amount of Rs 56.46 crore while the State Government would be paying the remaining Rs 14.11 crore.
Since the State Government has already paid some amount, Prof Laloo said the Government would now require around Rs 8.63 crore for payment of the rest of the arrears.
Registration of Marriage Bill, 2011 draft approved
Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also approved the proposed draft of the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Bill, 2011.
Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said the proposed Bill would ensure all marriages in the State are compulsorily registered.
Dr Sangma also said that the Bill would be posted on the government website to elicit opinions and suggestions from the public and changes to the proposed bill would be made if deemed necessary.
