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AS Naura elected as Panjab University teachers’ body president
In a close contest, AS Naura beat Rattan Singh (229 votes) from University Institute of Legal Studies by eight votes in the Panjab University Teachers Association polls
In a close contest, Naura beat Rattan Singh (229 votes) from University Institute of Legal Studies by eight votes. Ashok Kumar from the Hindi department bagged 81 votes and six votes were declared invalid.
His team’s Mritunjay Kumar, assistant archivist at the AC Joshi Library, won the general secretary seat with a margin of mere two votes.
Kumar got 223 out of the 539 valid votes. Kashmir Singh of biotechnology department secured 221 votes and Kulwinder Singh of University Business School bagged 95 votes. A total of 14 votes were declared invalid.
Surinder Pal Singh of the mathematics department, also from the Naura-Mritunjay group, won the joint secretary post with 223 out of 532 valid votes in polled in his favour.
It is after three years that the Naura-Mritunjay duo will hold the reins of PUTA, winning on what could be considered the two most important posts of the body.
Three years ago, Mritunjay was the president, with Naura as the general secretary.
Although Rattan and Kashmir could not win, members of their group clinched the remaining posts of vice-president and treasurer. Rattan-Kashmir group’s Suman Sumi, assistant librarian at the AC Joshi Library, got 236 out of 536 valid votes polled for the vice-president’s post.
She beat Tanzeer Kaur from biophysics department, who got 206 votes. Harmail Singh from Centre for Distance and Online Education (CDOE) won 95 votes. A total of 17 votes were declared invalid.
The group’s Vishal Sharma, from forensic sciences department, secured the treasurer post, getting 266 out of the 542 valid votes polled.
Those elected in executive group 1 include Deepti Gupta from English department, Gaurav Kalotra from geography, Gautam Bahl from CDOE library and Nitin Arora from economics. In executive group 2, Kavita Taneja from computer science, Naveen Kaushal from biophysics, Navdeep Goyal from physics and MC Sidhu from botany were elected.
For executive group 3, Anupam Bahri from UILS, Deepak Gupta from dental, and Jagjit Singh and Naresh Kumar from UIET were picked.
Keshav Malhotra from evening studies was elected unopposed for executive group 4 and Parveen Kumar of CDOE for executive group 5.
Returning officer Vijay Nagpal said it was after around 18 years that the margins were razor thin. He added that Teachers Voice United Front, the third group added this year, also did well in the polls.
Addressing the annual general meeting at the Law auditorium, newly elected president AS Naura said all elected members will work together as one for the collective good. Teachers demanded routine meetings to discuss their issues.
‘Will hold regular meetings, ensure everyone is heard’
Freshly elected as the president of Panjab University Teachers Association with a narrow margin of eight votes, Amarjit Singh Naura spoke to Hindustan Times about his plans during his one-year term:
What issues will you take up immediately?
After the Board of Finance meeting on Wednesday, we will take up the issue of pending arrears under revised pay scales first and foremost. It was discussed in the meeting that the file to clear ₹278-crore arrears is in motion. We will meet the PU and University Grants Commission (UGC) authorities regarding the matter.
What steps will you take to convince the government to re-introduce the old pension scheme?
The Punjab government has taken out a principal notification applicable on all employees of Punjab, bringing them under the old pension scheme. We will campaign for PU teachers to be included under it.
How will you address the pending promotion cases?
When senate meetings weren’t held because of lockdown, PUTA had to intervene and put forward the promotion of 62 teachers under the Career Advancement Scheme. The new vice-chancellor has promoted 150 to 200 teachers under the scheme. We will meet her and ensure that it becomes a regular feature. The CAS promotion policy for the dental college, currently under screening, is also important.
How will you make PUTA more inclusive and vibrant?
PUTA has been given the mandate by the teaching community. We will respect it and hold regular meetings. We will ensure everyone’s voice is heard.
