Outsourced employees of Rohtak health varsity detained for violation of court orders

Outsourced employees of Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak (UHSR), who had been staging an indefinite dharna at Vijay Park on the campus for the last 18 days, were detained on Friday when they arrived to resume their protest.

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The action was taken in compliance with a local court order that prohibits striking employees from holding any form of protest within a 200-metre radius of the university and the PGIMS till July 1, when the case is scheduled for next hearing.

Although the university administration had pasted a copy of the court’s directive at the dharna site yesterday to inform protesters, a large group still gathered at Vijay Park in the morning today.

They were subsequently detained by the police and sent to the Police Lines in buses. A video showing an argument between police personnel and protesters went viral on social media in the morning.

One of the protesters confirmed that they had been detained and taken to the Police Lines. “We were taken to the Police Lines in buses this morning. All outsourced employees wanted to resume dharna, but the police prevented us and later detained us,” he said.

The protesters claimed that the university authorities cannot snatch their right by doing so and they would continue their protest until their demand is met. The detained employees were released from the Police Lines around 5 pm.

The protesters are demanding that their services be transferred to the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN). Although they were hired through a private agency, their wages are paid by the university via an agency.

Commenting on the demand, UHSR Vice-Chancellor Prof HK Aggarwal stated that the university had already requested the state government to transfer outsourced employees to the HKRN.

Meanwhile, in support of the striking outsourced employees, trade unions — CITU and Sarv Karamchari Sangh — organised a protest demonstration at the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Friday, demanding their release. They condemned the early morning detentions and removal of protesters tents.

Leading the demonstration, Satbir Singh, Vinod, Sumer Siwach and Jaiveer Chahal criticised the state government for not transferring over 1,200 outsourced employees — including bearers, security guards, and data entry operators — to the HKRN.

They also demanded abolition of the contractual system, regularisation of workers and implementation of a minimum monthly wage of Rs 26,000. Earlier, trade union representatives held a march while raising slogans and submitted a memorandum to the district authorities urging immediate release of employees and implementation of the wage reforms.