Notification came on November 2: FTII gets MoF nod to implement 7th pay scale

FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola confirmed on Monday that the institute had received an approval from the MoF on November 2.

EMPLOYEES OF the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) will now get the benefits of pay revision as per 7th Pay Commission. The Ministry of Finance has finally approved the proposal after deliberating over it for almost 10 months. The approval comes as a great relief to the permanent employees of the institute, who had earlier alleged that a “goof up” in payscale upgradation had caused them inconvenience and loss of funds. In January 2017, the FTII had implemented a pay scale revision, “without taking necessary concurrence from the Ministry of Finance” and releasing salaries as per the upgraded scales only to withdraw it two months later. The institute had to recover “excess salaries” paid to each of the 166 staffers from their subsequent salaries between April and May.

Administrative officials said the institute had received a notification to this effect from the ministry on November 2.

As per the records accessed by Pune Newsline, the FTII spends Rs 18.9 crore per annum on salaries. After new pay scales are implemented, the institute would end up spending Rs 20.4 crore per annum on salaries. Thus, it will require Rs 1.5 crore extra every year.

As per the Ministry of Finance (MoF) directives, autonomous bodies working under various ministries were to, preferably, bear the additional financial burden of the revision. In case the autonomous body is unable to do it, it would approach the financial advisor or the ministry concerned (I&B in this case), which would consider the proposal and may recommend the MoF to consider bearing upto 70 per cent of the cost. The remaining 30 per cent should be borne by the autonomous body concerned.

The FTII had also written to the I&B Ministry that the institute was ready to bear the 30 per cent burden (about Rs 45 lakh per annum) and, hence, the pay revision should be effected. However, instead of waiting for a go ahead from the MoF, the FTII rolled out the revised salaries, which had led to the anomaly.

FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola confirmed on Monday that the institute had received an approval from the MoF on November 2. He added that the pay scale revision will be effective, with a retrospective effect, from January 2017. He assured that 30 per cent of the additional burden will be borne by the FTII.

Staffers, meanwhile, welcomed the announcement. A non-teaching staffer, requesting anonymity, said, “The announcement has come as a great relief to all of us. The way things were going, we thought it will never happen. Being an employee of the central government, we should get all the benefits.”