PU panel nod for compulsory retirement

CHANDIGARH: In a move that’ll cause severe resentment, a Panjab University committee has recommended adoption of Punjab government regulations for compulsory retirement of PU employees.
The suggestions are likely to generate heated discussions in the syndicate meet on Saturday. The committee, headed by justice S K Jain, said that the university should adopt three clauses of the Punjab government service rules, which included giving full authority to the university to retire an employee who has put in 25 years of service or is more than 50 years old and only a three-month notice need to be served.
These clause, the regulations state, should be implemented in ‘‘public interest’’ and should not be used indiscriminately.The university is learnt to have initiated the introduction of compulsory retirement for expelling four security guards from the campus.
Though a legal opinion, which the university had obtained beforehand, suggested that authorities should not take on such substantial power, the committee chose to place its recommendations for the syndicate’s perusal. But what severely dilutes the moral stand of the proposal is the absence of any pension scheme for PU employees. The committee itself felt such a scheme would be necessary to implement the compulsory retirement scheme.
Member of the committee and syndic Prof P P Arya, who dissented with the final decision, said, ‘‘PU has adequate procedures to deal with non-performing employees. Anyway, the system is based on human relations and such a step would make employees work under fear rather than putting in their sincere efforts.’’ To express anguish against the decision, the employees have decided to protest.
Talking to Times News Network president of the Panjab University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) Dr Harjinder Singh Laltu said, ‘‘We are planning to protest and sit on a dharna before the syndicate meeting begins on Saturday.’’
PU employees also took out a protest rally in the university on Friday to voice against the committee’s decision.