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Chandigarh: 7th pay arrears, OPS key issues for PUTA elections
Rattan Singh, the presidential candidate from Rattan Kashmir team, feels that the arrears pending under the seventh pay commission demand immediate attention
With polling for the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) elections set to be on Thursday, issues such as pending arrears of teachers under the seventh pay commission and the old pension scheme are among the key issues highlighted by the three contesting groups who have released their manifestos.
Rattan Singh, the presidential candidate from Rattan Kashmir team, feels that the arrears pending under the seventh pay commission demand immediate attention.
Although the seventh pay commission was implemented earlier this year, arrears from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2022, have been pending.
Singh said, “The problem lies with the Centre which has to pay its share even as the Punjab government is still amicable to this. As a pressure group, we will try to get the Centre to listen to us, something which was not done by the previous association.”
In an event organised on Monday to release their manifesto, the newly formed Teachers Voice United Front (TVUF) echoed the same sentiment. Presidential candidate Ashok Kumar said, “The pending amount has crossed ₹10 lakh for some teachers. It is discouraging for some of the younger teachers to not get what is rightfully theirs.”
AS Naura, presidential candidate of the Naura Mritunjay group said that their priority will be the reinstatement of the old pension scheme for PU professors. “Panjab government has brought this scheme for Punjab employees and as professors of Panjab University, we are entitled to it. We will make efforts to ensure this happens,” he added.
With the addition of a third group, the contest has heated up. Earlier, the Rattan group and Naura group had been working together but are now making allegations against each other.
The TVUF alleged that PUTA politics had become about individual personalities rather than student welfare, which is why they felt the need for a third group.
Former PUTA president (2014-2015) Rajat Sandhir said that issues raised by the PUTA bodies earlier, such as central university status, have now lost steam. “Over the years, I think teachers have realised that it is not going to happen and have moved on.”
On the recent political tussle over PU affiliation to Haryana colleges, executive member candidate from TVUF Sudhir Mehra said, “It is not the teachers prerogative to decide whether the university should be a central or state university. As PUTA, we are a pressure group and can work for teachers’ welfare.”
A total of 590 voting members will elect the new PUTA body on Thursday, with the body’s annual general meeting scheduled in the evening.
