Jamshedpur, Feb. 15: Ranchi University has decided to clear salary arrears of about 100 teachers that had been pending for 14 months.

The payment will be made from the university account (A-account) in various constituent colleges of the university.

Sources said vice-chancellor S.S. Kushwaha has issued a circular to principals of constituent colleges asking them to obtain permission from the university to make the arrears payment from the A-account. The arrears will be released within a month, after the principals send their reports to the vice-chancellor. The arrears are likely to be given as a lump sum.

About 100 teachers did not receive their salary according to the University Grants Commission (UGC?s) new payscale from October, 2002, to December, 2003.

University spokesperson S.S. Akhtar said names of about 100 teachers were left out in the first list of the new UGC pay-fixation. The names of the teachers could not be accommodated because the colleges delayed sending the list, he said. The names of those teachers appeared in the second list released by the UGC in January last year. ?The university has agreed to release funds from the A-account of respective colleges to pay the arrears of teachers. The payment will be released soon,? he said. University officials said the decision to make payments from the A-account was taken, as funds in the account ? some ranging from Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 ? remained unutilised in majority of the constituent colleges.

Senior member of the Ranchi University academic council and principal of Jamshedpur Workers? College SS Razi told The Telegraph that it was a good initiative taken by the university. He admitted that funds in the A-account in most of the colleges are not properly utilised due to procedural delay. The university recently decided that any college, which wants to utilise funds from A-account, could do so after getting a direct approval from the vice-chancellor.

Ranchi University Constituent College Teachers? Association (Ruccta), which has been fighting for the cause of such teachers for the past couple of years, heaved a sigh of relief over the recent decision.

The association had led several agitations in the past to pressure the university to clear the arrears.

Ruccta general secretary Vijay Piyush said the teachers? association, last week, had decided to ask the university chancellor to clear the pending payments.

?We welcome the university?s decision as it would benefit about 100 teachers and motivate them to perform well in future,? he said.