Chandigarh: Contractor gets notice for demanding registration fee from computer teachers

As per the letter written by the Chandigarh DEO, the computer instructors had sent two complaints to the UT education department on May 6 and May 12 about the registration fee being sought by the contractor, hired to provide manpower to the department

The district education officer (DEO) has issued a show-cause notice to the contractor hired to provide manpower to the education department to explain why computer teachers have been asked to pay up to ₹30,000 each for registration.

The contractor has been asked to send a reply within seven days and to comply with the terms and conditions of the agreement. (HT Photo/For representation only)

As per the letter written by the DEO, the computer instructors had sent two complaints to the UT education department on May 6 and May 12 about the registration fee being sought by the contractor, Jaharveer Company Manpower and Security Services.

HT had also highlighted the unauthorised demand by the new contractor, hired through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.

According to the terms of the contract on GeM portal, as mentioned in the DEO’s letter, the new contractor was to continue with the existing employees hired by the previous service provider if they were eligible as per necessary educational qualifications and no fee should be charged for registration/continuation.

The department had also written to the contractor twice on May 2 and May 12 not to charge any money for registration as per terms and conditions of the bid.

On the other hand, Sandeep, one of the employees of the contractor, who directly deals with the computer teachers, denied having sought any money from the teachers. “On the contrary, we have reinstated 54 teachers who were removed by the previous contractor. All 163 computer instructors are working now and we hope that we can function smoothly.” He had earlier also denied raising any demand for money and said that teachers had only been asked to submit their documents for registration.

Meanwhile, some computer instructors said most of the instructors had already paid the amount as demanded by the contractor. The teachers have also sought that the contract be awarded for more than two years to avoid issues every time the contractor is changed.