The Commission was set up by the University Grants Commission in 2007. Some of the points taken up by the DUTA include increase in salary, endowment of professorship, one month's basic salary as medical allowance, fast track promotion scheme. If the recommendations are approved, the average income of a Reader in Delhi University can go up to Rs 60,000 from the current Rs 18,400.

“The recommendations are made in order to retain talent in the teaching profession,” Aditya Narayan Mishra, DUTA president, said. According to him, the last seven years have seen a massive diversion of talented youth towards professions with better packages and deals. “When I became a teacher in 1970s, teaching was the second preferred choice. Now teaching ranks in the ninth position. We have to get back our youth and an attractive package is the best way to do it,” Mishra said.

According to Sunil Tiwari, teacher in Bhagat Singh College, the Commission had specifically mentioned that the recommendations should be made on “how to attract and retain talent in higher education”.

“It took two months and 10 meetings to come up with the final draft," he said. Members of DUTA are hopeful that the new recommendations will also be observed for revising the payment of teachers in other universities of India. “But all this may take a lot of time,” a member said.

At present, however, the immediate demand of teachers is professorship in Delhi University. “Without professorship (promotion), it will be difficult to attract people because in all other professions, promotion is performance based and not based on the number of years put in,” Mishra said.