Contract staff accuse govt of ‘pick and choose’

Chandigarh : About 200 contractual employees have been denied regularisation of service, citing a rule that those having degrees from other state universities through distance education can’t be regularised. The rule has been bypassed for Guriqbal Singh, youngest grandson of former Chief Minister Beant Singh, a section of these employees have alleged. Guriqbal’s appointment in the police was recently cleared by the Congress government. Some contractual employees, who have been denied regular jobs, are crying foul.
Addressing a press conference here today, Gurwinder Singh Rattan and Prabhjot Singh, both contractual teachers, have demanded that either their services be regularised or Guriqbal’s appointment as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) be cancelled.
The duo said between 2009 and 2014, 6,096 contractual teachers were appointed. They were promised that their services would be regularised by April 2014. Besides, 192 clerks and six librarians were also given contractual appointment.
“Later, citing a new rule framed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the government said that since they had received their degrees through distance education from study centres of universities of other states, they could not be recruited as regular employees. But Guriqbal, who has also earned his degree from a Delhi study centre of a Tamil Nadu-based university, has been given a regular appointment,” they alleged.