Contempt notice to special secy

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has put Punjab special secretary (finance) Rajat Aggarwal on contempt notice over non-regularisation of services of Punjab Information and Communication Technology Education Society (PICTES) nonteaching employees.

The order was passed by the HC bench of justice Jaswant Singh as Punjab failed to justify why non-teaching employees are not being regularised, whereas teaching staff has been regularised in 2010. PICTES was established to impart information communication technology (ICT) education to all students of Class 6 to 12 in Punjab.

The decision to regularise nonteaching staff was taken by the board of PICTES in August 2014. The government too had given nod for the same in 2011. “… therefore, non-grant of approval by the finance department is not only unjustified but contemptuous,” the HC bench said taking note of the fact that the PICTES board of governors (BOG) is headed by chief minister of Punjab as its chairman.

It was in 2010 that the government decided to regularise the services of 6,452 teachers. In 2011, the government decided to regularise the services of 66 nonteaching employees as well.

The BOG took up the matter in 2014 and gave its nod for regularisation of the services of nonteaching staff. “The demand of non-teaching staff is more genuine and is worth accepting. Therefore, the case of non-teaching staff for regularising their services under PICTES is put before the worthy chairman and members of BOG for kind consideration and approval. The additional financial burden on this account will come to approximately ₹1 crore annually,” the board was told by the society.

The board gave its nod but the proposal was shot down by the finance department in December 2014. It was this decision, which was challenged in 2015.