Chandigarh: 13 PUTA members demand membership fee waiver

PUTA members have alleged that there were hardly any executive body or general body meetings held by PUTA in the last two years

As many as 13 members from Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) have written to the PUTA secretary, requesting that they should be exempted from paying the membership fees for the 2023-24 session.

PUTA members have asked that all members who paid the membership fees last year not be charged this year. (HT Photos)

These members, including professors Rajat Sandhir, Navdeep Goyal and Jatinder Grover, have alleged that there were hardly any executive body or general body meetings held by PUTA in the last two years.

They have asked that all members who paid the membership fees last year not be charged this year. They have also asked for an immediate executive meeting be called to decide the PUTA election schedule for the 2024-25 session as per the PUTA constitution.

One of the members explained that the body has been lagging behind and the last PUTA general body meeting was called in February. While the fees — ₹500 per person — is not a big amount, it’s just to apprise the authorities about using these funds to organise activities for the betterment of teachers. They alleged that over ₹11 lakh is lying in fixed deposits and over ₹5 lakh is available for day-to-day working in the PUTA bank account.

As per the PUTA constitution, the election should be held within 45 days of the reopening of the university after summer vacations. The limit comes out till August end this year, and the two main groups are starting to mobilise before the PUTA elections of this year.