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PUTA election: Supinder Kaur leads her side to sixth consecutive win
Supinder Kaur, who was also the outgoing PUTA vice-president, secured 352 votes against the 209 that went the way of Naresh Kumar of the University Institute of Engineering and Technology
The department of laws’ Supinder Kaur, 46, was elected as the new president of the Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) on Thursday.
Kaur, who was also the outgoing vice-president, managed to secure 352 votes against the 209 that went the way of Naresh Kumar of the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET). Of the 615 eligible votes, 568 (92%) were polled — marking an increase from 2021’s 90% and 2020’s 83% figures.
Kaur and Amarjit Singh Naura’s team also managed to retain all key posts in the elections of the teachers’ body, leaving the Naresh-Neeraj team — which was considered pro-establishment on the campus — little to rejoice about.
With this, the group, which is also backed by the Goyal group, registered a PUTA win for the sixth year in a row.
Women to run the show
Of the five top posts of PUTA, four have been bagged by the female candidates – marking the first occasion that four women will be the office bearers of PUTA
The post of vice-president went to Suman Sumi, who is assistant librarian at the AC Joshi library with 367 votes against opponent Vandana Arora’s 190 votes. Biochemistry department’s Naura beat Neeraj Kumar for the post of secretary 327-233, while the biophysics department’s Sarvnarinder Kaur edged Avneet Saini for the post of joint secretary 344-212. Vijayta Chadha of nuclear medicine department beat Vishal Sharma to bag the treasurer’s post 321-231.
Additionally, the Supinder-Naura team managed to win a majority over the rival group in all three executive groups, with the latter managing only one seat.
The polling began at around 8.30 am, while the counting process was later completed sans any disruption.
Get to know the new president
Supinder Kaur, 46, a professor at the varsity’s department of laws, pursued her BA in political science (hons). She also pursued LLB, LLM and Phd from the varsity and was a student activist during the time.
Kaur, who managed to win the election on the top post with a huge margin, said she will continue to champion teachers’ issues.
“We will push for the immediate revision of salaries of teachers as per the UGC’s seventh pay scales and work towards clearance of all pending cases of promotions under Career Advancement Scheme (CAS),” she said, adding that a major focus will be given towards the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme for all teachers.
Kaur, who has been in PUTA for the last five years. said her team toughen the stand against anti-teachers policies.
