New Delhi, July 15: Nearly a hundred retired professors of IIT Madras will have to return over Rs 2 lakh each because the institute paid them more than their entitlements after wrongly calculating their pension.

The professors had retired before 2006 and got the excess pension under the Sixth Pay Commission package from January 2006 to May this year.

The Centre’s department of pension and pensioners’ welfare raised objections, following which the institute recalculated the sum. The excess amount, varying from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh each, meant the institute paid a total of around Rs 4 crore more than it should have.

IIT Madras director M.S. Ananth expressed regret but suggested a “confusing” central order was to blame. “I have written to the retired professors saying I am sorry for the mistake. Because of the mistake in calculation due to a confusing government order, each of the retired faculty members has been paid about Rs 2 lakh excess money. That will be recovered from them in instalments,” Ananth told The Telegraph.

Ananth said the Union HRD ministry had issued an order on the Sixth Pay Commission package saying the sum for pre-2006 pensioners would be fixed on the basis of the minimum basic pay.

The actual minimum basic pay is Rs 48,000 per month for professors and Rs 43,800 per month for associate professors. The pension, which is around 50 per cent of the basic pay, had been calculated accordingly.

Later, after the pension department’s objections, the HRD ministry issued another order clarifying that the minimum should be that specified in the pay band, Rs 37,400 to Rs 67,000 per month. The pension should be computed on the basis of Rs 37,400.

IIT Madras is the only one to have made the mistake. Other IITs had used the lower figure to work out the pension. IIT Kharagpur had made a request to follow the IIT Madras pattern but the plea was rejected.

The new sum is 20 per cent less than what the retired professors of IIT Madras were getting till May. They will have to repay the excess in 60 instalments.

“We have taken the corrective steps. Those affected have been informed about the revised figure,” Ananth said.

But the professors seemed bitter. “I am very unhappy. Now I will get less money as pension and have to pay back the excess amount. People tend to spend the money they get. Most of the retired faculties are angry with the decision,” said V. Ramamurthy, one of the professors.