Recruitment for assistant professors and librarians process by the Government of Punjab is hanging as there seems to be no conclusion to the conundrum which has been festering for a while now. This is how it all began.
The Director of Higher Education, Punjab, issued a public notice on October 19, 2021 inviting online application forms from eligible candidates for assistant professor posts in various subjects and librarians individually. The total number of posts available during the recruitment process were 1,158.
Following this, there was one more notice on the same date mentioning the eligibility, selection process, pay scale and other instructions. Acknowledging both, those who were interested appeared for the written test, Punjab Assistant Professor Exam, which was held on November 20 and 21, 2021. The results were released on November 26, 2021. Till here, everything was smooth and the exam was held transparently. Out of 1158 who cleared the exam, 607 joined the Head office at Mohali on December 2 and 3, 2021. Among the 607, 135 were given posting orders to various colleges on December 22 and 23, 2021.
But what happened after this?
Giving more details about this, Dr Sohail who is one of the Convenors of the 1158 Assistant Professors Front told EdexLive that there are three main concerns:
1. "Posts were taken out of the purview of PPSC (Punjab Public Service Commission). As the Department of Higher Education (DHE) took the complete charge by conducting the exam at Punjabi University, Patiala and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar."
2. Another main concern was that this process of hiring assistant professors was approved by Chief Minister Charanjeet Channi but the ex-post-facto cabinet approval is pending.
3. Conduct of only written tests and no interviews was another concern.
Therefore, challenging these concerns, several ad-hoc teachers and guest lecturers working in the government colleges of Punjab filed writ petitions in the High Court. Considering these, the High Court stayed the process on December 3. But the 607 candidates who received their appointment orders have already submitted their joining orders at the department's headquarters on December 2 and 3. So the candidates claim that the court, while passing an interim order in this issue, instructed the department to stop this recruiting process for the others who haven't received their joining orders.
Training amidst the tussle
When EdexLive spoke to one of the candidates Kirandeep Kaur who didn't receive her posting orders, she explained that those candidates like her, who didn't receive their posting orders were called for training. In her case, as she was from the Commerce Department, she was first called for training from December 31, 2021 to January 2, 2022, at ICAI Bhawan, Chandigarh. Again in February 2022, a three-week training was conducted by the Excise and Taxation Department in various district headquarters.
Kaur, who was an accounts assistant at a PSU (Public Sector Unit), feels, "Our only fault is that we cleared the exam." Kaur resigned from her earlier job to join as an assistant professor. This move was followed by verbal instruction given by DHE on December 2 and 3 that they were required to resign from their previous jobs to join the assistant professors' posts. But experiencing the pangs of the process, she feels dejected. Adding to this, Sohail says he is also one among the lot who resigned from his previous job.
Another candidate, Chirag Garg, who is a silver medalist and pursued his Master's from Panjab University said he was also called for three to four days of training in February right before the elections. When asked what was thought in the training, the candidate from the physics department said, "It was a regular visit to the government college." Further, sharing his views on the process, he said, "It is procedural errors on the part of the government." The Computer Science department candidates were called for work at the Head Office in January 2022 for various works namely, software development, portal management and so on, Kaur added.
Service without salaries
For those who didn't get the posting orders but attended the training and work, Kaur told EdexLive that the salaries order was passed in March. And candidates were allocated colleges for withdrawal of their salaries. But when the candidates reached the respective colleges and followed the protocol of submitting their documents followed by enrollment in the HRMS (Human Resource Management System), the salaries were not given.
Sailing in the same boat, Garg claims that the finance department asked the respective colleges' principals, "If they are not doing any job, why to give them salaries?"
Court quashes the process
Although 135 who received the orders continued working and are getting salaries, on August 8, 2022, the court quashed the entire process. And the appeals filed against the quashing are still pending. Point 74 of the High Court order states, "All 33 advertisements (Nos. 1/2021 to 33/2021) dated 19.10.2021 along with entire selection process, including the consequent appointments as well as posting orders are quashed and set-aside."
With this, the assistant professors are left hanging, with no knowledge of how they should proceed. Even though a few candidates received postings elsewhere, they were not able to go for it as they are stuck with an undertaking here. For instance, Kaur shares that she received an offer letter from PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited) but she couldn't move out of the undertaking signed at the time of salary orders.
The undertaking mentioned above was given by the department and signed by candidates. One of the points mentioned in the undertaking was that they are not employed elsewhere, which is now giving them grief.
With this, the 1158 Front staged protests in September 2022 during which many were injured as the police initiated lathi charge. After the protests, the government agreed to file an appeal at the double bench of the High Court. But nothing has been filed to date.
What about the 135 who are posted?
When EdexLive spoke to two of the candidates who have been posted in government colleges, this is what they said.
Jagjeet Singh who is posted as an assistant professor at Government Mohindra College, Patiala shared that he received his posting order on December 23, 2021 and he reported on December 24, 2021. Commenting on this recruitment process, he said, "DHE lapses when it comes to legal procedures." Adding to this, another candidate, Rohit Barach, who is posted as an assistant professor at Government College, SAS Nagar, Mohali said their salaries were on time and that he had no issues after getting posted.
