Keeping up its promise of examining the demands of guest lecturers on humanitarian grounds, the State Government has more than doubled their salaries besides taking various measures to streamline the system of their appointment.

These decisions, announced by the Government on Friday, are based on the recommendations of a three-member committee that looked into the work of thousands of guest lecturers working in government first-grade colleges across the State.

Hailing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for personally taking interest in addressing the demands of guest lecturers, Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan announced the decisions of the Government.

He explained that four classifications have been formulated to fix the salaries of guest lecturers. Earlier, they were paid a salary of ₹13,000 per month if they have UGC-prescribed eligibility and ₹11,000 per month if they do not have UGC prescribed eligibility. Now, the salaries have been increased from a minimum of ₹26,000 per month to a maximum of ₹32,000 per month, he said.

Those who have been serving as guest lecturers for more than five years with UGC-prescribed qualification will get ₹32,000 per month; those who have been serving for less than five years with UGC-prescribed qualification will get ₹30,000 per month; those who have been serving for more than five years without UGC-prescribed qualification will get ₹28,000 per month; and those who have been serving as guest lecturers for less than five years without UGC-prescribed qualification will get ₹26,000 per month, the Minister said.

In other prominent measures as a relief to the guest lecturers, it has been decided to pay the salaries before the 10th of every month and to appoint them on the full academic year basis of 10-month duration instead of the present system of semester-basis appointment.

As UGC-prescribed eligibility conditions will be made mandatory for recruiting guest faculty in the coming years, a three-year deadline has been set for guest lecturers to clear the required eligibility tests/examinations, the Minister said.

It has been also decided to give weightage to seniority of service while appointing guest lecturers. To ensure this, a selection list will be prepared based on the existing parameters of the department, he said. Based on the above parameters an online portal has been set up for recruitments and candidates can apply from January 17. Applicants can mention five colleges of their choice while submitting applications and they need to submit it within seven days from January 17.

The Government had constituted a three-member committee headed by ACS of the Higher Education Department on December 15 to look into the demands by the guest lecturers. The committee had submitted the report within one month. The committee had convened meetings on December 28, January 5, and January 12.

Mr. Ashwath Narayan and Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti had also conducted meetings during the winter session of the State legislature in Belagavi, and later in Bengaluru wherein MLCs and associations of guest lecturers had participated.