The Government Teachers Union Punjab has written to the Chief Minister and the Education Minister, raising objections over alleged discrepancies and anomalies in the Education Department’s advertisement for the recruitment of 1,013 lecturers in various subjects.
Teachers said the list of lecturer posts, as per the advertisement issued by the Education Department’s Recruitment Board, was incorrect as it did not allocate vacancies in accordance with the reservation policy applicable to the Scheduled Castes category. Consequently, they alleged that eligible candidates from the SC community had been overlooked in the recruitment process.
They demanded that the advertisement be amended to ensure due representation to all categories of lecturers in accordance with the prescribed reservation rules. The teacher leaders alleged that the advertised vacancies had overlooked various reservation provisions, making the Education Department’s first recruitment advertisement incomplete.
Government Teachers Union Punjab state president Sukhwinder Singh, secretary Gurbinder Singh Saskaur, finance secretary Manohar Lal Sharma and press secretary Karnail Phillaur, among others, said they had written to the government on June 29 raising the issue. The teacher leaders also expressed concern that the discrepancies in the advertisement could lead to legal challenges, delaying the recruitment process and ultimately affecting the timely filling of the advertised posts.
GTU press secretary Karnail Singh Phillaur said, “It is surprising that the government omitted reservation details, as per the roster, from the advertisement despite this being an established practice followed by previous governments. Although the application portal has been opened, the issue remains unresolved. The State SC Commission has also taken note of the matter and summoned the Education Secretary. We hope the discrepancies will be rectified and a revised advertisement issued soon.”
Notably, the State Scheduled Castes Commission, taking suo motu cognisance of the issue, summoned the Secretary, School Education Department, Punjab, over the alleged omission of reservation provisions for the Scheduled Castes category in the recruitment advertisement.
Teacher leaders Rajesh Amloh from Fatehgarh Sahib, Dharminder Singh Bhangu from Ropar, Pritpal Chautala from Hoshiarpur, Jasvir Talwara, Sukhwinder Makkar from Jalandhar, Dildar Bhandal from Gurdaspur, Manjit Singh Brar from Muktsar Sahib, Sucha Singh Tarpai from Amritsar, Harvinder Singh Sultanwind from Sangrur, among others also said the advertisement errors must be corrected and a new advertisement including all sections of teachers, must be issued.
