Patna: Retired teachers of Magadh University (MU) are facing increasing financial distress as they continue to be deprived of their retirement benefits including gratuity, despite having retired decades ago. The delay in payments has left many struggling to meet basic living expenses and health needs, causing an outcry among the affected pensioners. Magadh University, located in Bodh Gaya, has long been a respected institution, but its retired teaching staff are now suffering as they await payments that they were promised upon retirement. Many retired teachers have reached out to university officials, including VC, but despite repeated assurances, there has been no significant action taken to resolve the issue. A retired teacher of the English department from B D College said even after seven years of his retirement, he has not received his gratuity money of Rs 20 lakh and arrears of Rs 6 lakh to date. “Instead, the university wrongly claimed to have made a partial payment of gratuity in reply to the Raj Bhavan’s query in the matter recently,” he said. Similarly, another teacher of the same college P B Lal said, “I retired in 2002 with the hope that my years of service would be respected. Despite favourable orders from the Patna high court, the university administration has been indifferent to my legitimate claims,” he said, adding that the court has now fixed payment of dues at 18% interest while hearing the contempt case, but to no avail. Several teachers, who retired from MU prior to 2018, are also facing the same fate, sources said. MU officials have acknowledged the issue but have cited financial constraints and administrative hurdles as reasons for the delay. MU finance officer Indra Kumar said the university has submitted a proposal to the state govt to get the release of Rs 422 crore as grants to clear all backlog dues to retired teachers. MU registrar Bipin Kumar said more than 50 such cases have been pending for payments of retiral dues at the university level.
