Himachal school lecturers protest promotion panel based on outdated seniority list

Discontent is mounting among school lecturers in Himachal Pradesh after the Directorate of Higher Education called for names to prepare a panel for promotion to the post of principal based on seniority. The Himachal Pradesh School Lecturers’ Association has opposed the move, alleging that the seniority list has not been updated for years, rendering the process unjust and exclusionary.

In a joint statement, association leaders — including state chairman Surender Pundeer, executive member Narendra Negi, patron Ramesh Negi, senior vice-president Sanjay Sharma, Sirmaur district president Dr ID Rahi, district general secretary Dinesh Sharma, senior vice-president Om Prakash Sharma and treasurer Lal Singh Thakur — highlighted glaring discrepancies in the existing list.

They noted that the last official seniority list of lecturers was issued on February 4, 2012, covering cases only up to 2010. For instance, a lecturer promoted on May 7, 2007, was assigned a seniority number as low as 5,789. However, in compliance with High Court orders, dozens of lecturers regularly appointed from January 1, 2007, onwards have not been included in the list — depriving them of their rightful seniority status.

The association further pointed out that since the Education Department has invited applications from lecturers with seniority numbers up to 7500, the absence of an updated list will unfairly exclude hundreds of eligible candidates from consideration.

Calling this the only career promotion opportunity available to lecturers during their entire service, the association urged the government to first update the seniority list and then proceed with the promotion exercise. They warned that denying timely benefits would amount to grave injustice.

The lecturers have appealed to the state government to take immediate corrective measures to ensure a fair, transparent and inclusive promotion process.