Front blocks Anandpur Sahib-Nangal highway, seek nod for 483 teachers to join duty

Tribune News Service

Anandpur Sahib, February 25

Members of the 1158 Assistant Professors and Librarians Front staged a dharna on the Anandpur Sahib-Nangal national highway here today, blocking the traffic. The protesters sat on the road at 12 noon and lifted dharna after three hours when they got an assurance from the Anandpur Sahib SHO Himmat Singh regarding their meeting with the CM on March 3.

The front members have been demanding that their 483 members who have been sitting on a dharna since August 21 last year near the residence of Punjab Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains at Gambhirpur village be allowed to join duty.

In October 2021, the process to recruit 1,158 professors and librarians was started ahead of the assembly elections. In December, 607 of them were handed over appointment letters. While 124 of them joined duty, the remaining 483 were not allowed to work despite their joining duty at the headquarters as a large number of petitions had been filed against the recruitment.

On August 22, 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the recruitment, following which the state government filed a letter patent appeal (LPA) in the court against the decision of the single Bench. While the Education Minister has already clarified in this regard that the government could not allow them to join duty due to the orders of high court, the protesters claimed that government was not doing enough to overcome the legal hurdles.

Front convener Jaswinder Kaur alleged that the government was not serious about the legal remedies available to resolve the issue and was not pleading the case properly.

Meanwhile, Bains said an application has also been filed in the high court in this regard.

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