Notice to Punjab on recruitment of teachers

CHANDIGARH: The high court bench of justice AG Masih on Monday issued a notice of motion to the Punjab government on a petition seeking revival of the recruitment process for 4,901 posts of elementary teachers initiated earlier by the panchayati raj department in February 2014.

The notice was issued on the petition of one Bhupinder Singh and 107 others, who had said that the recruitment process had culminated into a final merit list of selected candidates in June 2014, and just before appointment letters could be issued, the government through a notification merged the cadre of elementary teachers of zila parishad schools of the panchayati raj department with the cadre of elementary teachers of the education department. Later in October, the government cancelled the recruitment process.

As many as 41,172 posts of elementary teachers are duly sanctioned with the education department.

Under the RTE Act, not more than 10% posts of teachers can be kept vacant in government primary schools. Of 10,417 vacant posts in the education department, it was bound to fill up at least 6,300 posts of these teachers, the petitioner argued, saying the decision of the government was not only arbitrary, but in violation of the provisions of the RTE Act. The government’s response has been sought by October 5.