Unpaid since June, 150 computer teachers in Chandigarh relieved of duty

The teachers had been regularly sending representations against the contractor to the UT education department and were, in turn, being acknowledged

Around 150 senior and junior computer instructors and data entry operators, hired by the UT education department through a private contractor, were relieved of duty on Thursday, four months after not being paid any salary.

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This, when the teachers had been regularly sending representations in that regard to the department and were, in turn, being acknowledged.

Earlier, the instructors were drawing salaries from the Society for Promotion of IT in Chandigarh (SPIC), but the education department had hired a private contractor through the government e-marketplace (GeM) in June.

In a complaint submitted to the district education officer, the teachers had accused the contractor of asking for ₹12,000 from each of them in lieu of retaining jobs, but no action has been taken against the contractor so far.

Sources said that if the allegations were proven true, a notice will be sent to the contractor and the education department will have to hire another one through the GeM.

Meanwhile, the teachers said they hadn’t received their salaries since June amid the pandemic, and will be seeking legal action against the contractor.

President of UT cadre of education employees’ union, Swarn Singh Kamboj, said it was unjust that the teachers were being laid off during the pandemic without being paid. “We will speak to the director of school education to rehire the teachers. They had been working for the past six to eight years and the department must stand by them.”

Saying that the department was also concerned about the teachers, director school education (DSE) Rubinderjit Singh Brar said, “The teachers were outsourced and we weren’t able to pay their salaries, so they had to be relieved. However, we are aware of the issues they have been facing with their contractors, and we aim to resolve them and bring things back to normal by next week.”