Maharashtra relaxes CAS promotion norms for technical institutes; PhD not mandatory for pre-2010 faculty

MUMBAI: Maharashtra has substantially diluted several eligibility conditions under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) for faculty in government and aided diploma and degree institutes under the Directorate of Technical Education, officials said on Thursday.

The relief will ensure CAS benefits are retroactively granted to certain lecturers regularised from contractual or temporary appointments, who were granted until December 31, 2023, to complete refresher courses.

The government has also waived the mandatory PhD requirement for placement in a higher pay band under CAS for lecturers appointed before March 5, 2010. The new relaxations concerning academic, training and qualification requirements for promotions were brought out through a GR issued on Wednesday.

The move follows a February 7, 2025, order of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, which partly allowed petitions filed by lecturers challenging a Government Resolution (GR) of June 2022 and quashed a related circular over CAS norms.

Citing the tribunal's directions and representations received from faculty, the state had constituted a five-member committee under Dr Pramod Naik, Joint Director, Technical Education (Mumbai region), to review the June 2022 GR.

Also read Maharashtra eases university teacher recruitment norms; academic weightage cut to 60% from 75%

Maharashtra amends multiple CAS clauses

Acting on the committee's recommendations submitted in October 2025, the government has now amended multiple CAS clauses, relaxing academic, training and qualification requirements for several categories of teachers, particularly those regularised from contractual or temporary service.

One of the most significant relaxations concerns lecturers regularised from contractual or temporary appointments through government decisions taken in 2015-16. Such faculty had been granted until December 31, 2023, to complete refresher or training courses, in line with extensions reportedly granted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Those who completed the required courses by the extended deadline will now receive CAS benefits, effective retroactively. Even those who complete the courses later will be granted benefits from the date of completion, effectively shielding a large pool of faculty from earlier disqualification, according to Wednesday's GR. In another major move, the government has waived the mandatory PhD requirement for placement in the higher "Pay Band-4" under CAS for lecturers appointed before March 5, 2010.

Also read Draft UGC rules draw flak as teachers oppose removal of contract staff cap, mandatory PhD for promotion

PhD not mandatory for pre-2010 appointees

As per the June 2022 GR, a PhD was mandatory, in line with AICTE norms, for grant of Pay Band-4 under the Sixth Pay Commission structure.

The latest GR now exempts pre-2010 appointees from this condition. Further, lecturers appointed in 2003 and 2004 in Science and Humanities streams will now be granted CAS benefits on the basis of MA or MSc qualifications, as was the earlier practice under the Fifth Pay Commission, instead of being subjected to subsequently introduced higher qualification benchmarks.

Also read Analysis: What the new UGC regulations on recruitment mean for academics, from assistant professor to VC

In yet another concession, contractual or temporary lecturers appointed in 2003-04 have been exempted from the mandatory requirement of ME/MTech for CAS eligibility. Those appointed after 2003-04 have been given a three-year window from the date of the present GR to acquire the prescribed qualification, failing which, benefits will not accrue, but a retrospective financial advantage will be granted upon compliance, the order said.

The GR also allows English lecturers regularised from contractual service in 2015-16 to avail full CAS benefits based on the educational qualifications that were applicable at the time of their appointment, rather than stricter norms introduced later.