Ludhiana: 10 teachers not paid salaries for 13 months

Tribune News Service

Harshraj Singh

Ludhiana, February 26

Teachers, falling under the uncovered teaching staff category, at Lajpat Rai DAV College, Jagraon, in the district, are enduring hardships due to the non-payment of salaries for the past 13 months. Despite their repeated pleas to the authorities, their salaries remain unpaid to date.

Over a month ago, the 10 aggrieved teachers communicated their grievances regarding pending salaries since January 2023 to the college authorities, yet the issue remains unresolved. They sought assistance from the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU). Now, a letter highlighting the matter has also been sent to the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh.

Professor Kunal Mehta, one of the teachers who has not received salaries, said it was challenging for the uncovered teaching staff to meet their day-to-day family needs as they had not been paid salaries for more than a year. He said 10 teachers of the college had not received their salaries since January 2023.

He said the salaries should be released at the earliest.

According to Prof Vikas Mendiratta, Prof PS Bajwa and other professors, they had previously requested the college multiple times but no concrete solution has been given to date. They are demanding the salaries be released at the earliest as they are facing a tough time. Meanwhile, the teaching staff (uncovered category) have also decided to confine themselves solely to teaching, with no other administrative work being undertaken.

A fellow of the PU, Jagdeep Kumar, who is also the vice-president of the PCCTU, said the college teachers had approached him regarding the matter. He then wrote to the PU Vice-Chancellor in this regard.

In the letter written to the PU VC by Jagdeep, it is alleged that the authorities of LRDAV College, Jagraon, are not paying the salaries to the teachers for the past 13 months, allegedly in gross violation of the PU rules regarding salaries of teachers working at affiliated colleges. The letter further reads: “While the selection of all teachers is done through a proper channel by the selection committee of the PU and their appointments are also approved by the university. Such a long pendency (13 months) of salaries is unjustified and in violation of the norms and a type of financial exploitation.”

The VC has been requested to intervene in the matter.

On the other hand, college principal Dr Anuj Kumar Sharma said many colleges in the state were facing financial challenges. Such a situation had been occurred at many colleges in the state due to the financial crises. However, he said the salary issue was related to only some uncovered teaching staff members at their college and it would be resolved. He added that it was an aided college and the salaries of all other teaching and non-teaching staff were released timely as grants for them were received.

Raised grievances month ago

Over a month ago, the aggrieved teachers communicated their grievances regarding pending salaries since January 2023 to the Lajpat Rai DAV College authorities. However, the issue remains unresolved.

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