Tug of war begins between Punjabi university VC and its staff

Tug of war begins between Punjabi university VC and its staff

Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in

The dharna started by the Punjabi University Teachers Union (PUTA), A Class Officers Association and B and C Class association of Punjabi University Patiala continued for the fourteenth consecutive day on 31-03-2021. Dr. Khushdeep Goyal, Member Executive PUTA, R.P. Singh, Vice President, A-Class Officers Association and Jagtar Singh Bhullar, General Secretary, B and C Class Employees Union participated in the ongoing chain hunger strike.

The three elected associations of the university also held a joint press conference on the current situation of the university and the demands of the faculty, officers and staff.

Speaking at the press conference, PUTA President Dr. Nishan Singh Deol strongly condemned the undue delay in resolving the issues pertaining to the employees of Punjabi University, Patiala. He said that the non-attendance of the acting Vice-Chancellor at the University is the major reason for this delay. The university is in need of a regular Vice-Chancellor. He demanded that the process of appointment of regular Vice Chancellor should be completed at the earliest.

He once again demanded that in addition to already announced grant of R 90 crore, the Government of Punjab shall release an additional one time grant of R 300 crore. He also demanded that the monthly grant of the university should be enhanced to at least R 30 crore.

Dr. Deol also said that the resignation of about 40 teachers from their additional administrative posts puts a big question mark on the working style of the current vice-chancellor. In such a case, the Vice-Chancellor should resign on moral ground.

Dr. Avneet Pal Singh, Secretary PUTA, told the press that an emergency meeting of PUTA’s general body was held today. At the meeting, all the teachers unanimously decided to reject the 20-point checklist issued by the Vice-Chancellor and thanked the teachers who resigned from their administrative posts at PUTA’s appeal. The General House also unanimously passed a resolution to oppose the new team to be appointed by the Vice-Chancellor to replace the resigning teacher It was also decided by the General House that the teachers who have not been able to resign from their posts so far should also resign from their respective posts while maintaining the unity of the teacher

Tug of war begins between Punjabi university VC and its staff as all the teachers present on the occasion also decided to give their full support to the struggle being waged by Puta. Speaking during the press conference, A Class Officers Association President,  Gurinder Pal Singh Babbi said that due to the incompetence of the present administration even after the issuance of promotion letters the employees were not getting the due benefit Such injustice is happening to every category of employees belonging to the university. The three elected organizations of the University are waging a common struggle to fight this injustice and this struggle will continue till the demands are met.  Shapinder Pal Singh, President B and C Class Employees Union told the press that the tenure of adhoc, work charge, contract employees has not been extended yet and even after the  High Court has issued orders for extension of tenure, the Vice-Chancellor has not issued the necessary orders regarding these extension

He also said that due to this delay a large section of the employees had not been paid their salaries for several month  Jagtar Singh Bhullar, Secretary, B and C Class Employees Union told the press that instead of implementing the decisions already taken by the university syndicate the Vice Chancellor is stressing on getting the same decision to be ratified by the syndicate once again. Further the GPF amount deducted from the salaries of university employees for the last six months has not yet been credited to the respective account He also demanded regularization of adhoc/ work charge employees and immediate confirmation of the orders of the adhoc employees from the syndicate. The three organizations also decided to continue the struggle jointly.

March 31,2021