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Bring in ordinance to reinstate 1,983 sacked PTIs: Surjewala to Khattar

In April, Supreme Court had upheld the decision of the HC quashing appointment of 1,983 physical training instructors in schools of Haryana in 2010, and asked the selection commission to conduct recruitment afresh.

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala Monday urged the Haryana government to reinstate the 1,983 sacked physical training instructors (PTIs) by issuing an ordinance and ratifying it through a bill passed by the Vidhan Sabha.

In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the Congress chief spokesperson also suggested a “draft bill” for “providing security of service to these PTIs in the interest of justice and equity”.

“I am more than certain that this legislation will have the unequivocal support of the entire Haryana Assembly. I urge you to take immediate steps to ensure that these 1,983 PTI teachers and their families are not abandoned to the vagaries of unemployment for an irregularity, if any, on the part of the recruiting authority,” the Congress leader said, adding all retrenched PTIs are overage and unlikely to secure any other employment.
In April this year, the Supreme Court had upheld the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashing appointment of 1,983 physical training instructors in schools of Haryana in 2010, and asked the state staff selection commission to conduct the recruitment process afresh.

The apex court had upheld the verdicts passed by the single and division benches of the high court quashing the appointment process conducted during the then Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He later told reporters over a video conference that the sacked PTIs had played no role in the selection process and the court has not held them guilty of any corruption.

“If there has been an irregularity in selection, it is solely the remit of the recruiting authority and its brunt cannot be borne by innocent individuals and their families,” the Congress leader said.

“The Supreme Court’s decision found neither corruption in the PTI selection process nor any malicious act was found to be done by any of the selected PTI teachers. So, PTI’s should not get unjustly penalised for an irregularity on the part of the recruiting authority,” he said.

Surjewala said the instructors have done selfless service in the state for more than ten years. The Congress leader asked, “why the 1,983 PTI teachers should get the punishment for the shortcomings of the agency that completed the selection process.”

A single judge bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on September 11, 2012, had set aside the selection of the 1,983 instructors made by the commission on April 10, 2010 in pursuance of the advertisement issued in 2006 on account of changes made in the selection process.

The Congress leader said that “the 1,983 PTI teachers can be reinstated in the service for the humanitarian reasons, their long experience and rules of not appointing PTI teachers in future”.