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PU committee approves 2 years re-employment for disabled employees after retirement
Ball in syndicate’s court; A professor had highlighted a central govt circular on the matter in 2017
A Panjab University panel approved a re-employment period of two years for disabled employees after reaching the retirement age of 60.
A committee was constituted last year in regard to the extension for physically disabled employees. PU has around 40 physically disabled employees.
If approved by the varsity syndicate, the recommendation of the committee will be applicable to all the future disabled employees of PU, teaching and non-teaching.
A member of the committee, pleading anonymity said, “The case was put forth in the syndicate meeting last year but after a decision could not be made, a committee was constituted in this regard. In the meeting held on Thursday, it was decided that two years of re-employment with full benefits should be given to the disabled employees of the university after reaching the retirement age.”
The issue dates back to 2017 when professor Vijay Nagapal submitted that as per a circular issued by the Centre, the retirement age for physically-challenged persons has been increased by two years. He said that the extension in service has been given as per the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
The matter was taken in the meeting of the varsity’s board of finance (BoF) in November 2017 but was not approved at that time.
Nagapal, whose lower body is completely disabled, gave a representation on August 9, 2016, for an extension of two years as he was about to retire in 2017.
He also filed a civil writ petition (CWP) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court this year, where PU submitted that the case would be referred to the BoF, as no reply had been received from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
In 2019, a non-teaching employee of the varsity’s botany department had filed a petition in the high court seeking two years extension of service. The court directed PU to decide on the matter.
