Punjab Cabinet approves recruitment of 160 assistant professors and 17 librarians in new govt colleges

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 17

To ensure smooth running of 18 new government colleges in various sub-divisions of the state, the Punjab Cabinet on Friday gave approval to recruitment of 160 assistant professors and 17 librarians in these colleges.

The recruitments will be made by the Departmental Selection Committee after taking these posts out of the purview of Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC), it was decided at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The Cabinet also gave the nod to constitute a Departmental Selection Committee, comprising former Chairman UGC Professor Ved Prakash as Chairperson with Vice Chancellor, GNDU Amritsar, DPI ©, Representative of Principal Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment (not below the rank of Joint Director) and three subject matter experts (not below the rank of Professor to be selected by the committee) as its members.

The committee has been mandated to carry out the recruitment process by strictly following the selection criteria as per the UGC guidelines.

The decision is a vital step towards increasing the accessibility of higher education to maximum youth of the state, besides achieving the target of 50 per cent Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by the year 2035 in tune with the National Education Policy-2020.

Nod for creating 117 posts for 9 fast-track special courts

With a view to eliminating the pendency of Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and rape cases, the Cabinet also approved the setting up of nine fast-track special courts with the creation of 117 posts for the same.

These nine fast-track special courts would be set up in Amritsar, Bathinda, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Mansa, Moga, Patiala and SAS Nagar.

The 117 posts to be created for such courts include nine Additional District & Sessions Judge and nine each of Judgement Writer (Sr. Grade), Reader Grade-I, Stenographer Grade-II, Translator, Ahlmad, Copy Clerk and Usher with 18 of Peon. The remaining 27 posts comprise nine each of Deputy District Attorney, Junior Scale Stenographer and Peon.

It may be recalled that the apex court had directed the state governments to set up fast-track special courts in such districts where more than 100 cases related to POCSO Act and rape cases are pending.