Reinstate 1,983 physical training instructors: Surjewala to Khattar govt

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Monday urged chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to reinstate the sacked 1,983 physical training instructors by

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Monday urged chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to reinstate the sacked 1,983 physical training instructors by issuing an ordinance and ratifying it later through a Bill passed by the Haryana assembly.

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A single bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court had in 2012 set aside the 2010 selection of such instructors on account of changes made in the selection process. An HC division bench had upheld the decision of the single bench. The Supreme Court had on April 8 also upheld the HC decision.

In a letter addressed to the Haryana CM, Surjewala suggested a draft Bill for providing security of service to physical training instructors in the ‘interest of justice’.

“I urge upon you to take immediate steps to ensure that these 1,983 physical training instructors and their families are not abandoned to the vagaries of unemployment. They and their families will suffer disproportionately given the circumstances that Covid and the lockdown have created as also the fact that all of them are overage and unlikely to secure any other employment,” Surjewala said.

Calling their removal insensitive, he said the teachers were innocent and the court has not held them guilty for any corruption or procedural lapses by the recruiting authority.

The Supreme Court neither found corruption in the selection process nor any malicious act by any of the selected teachers, he added.