Delay attributed to DYSS’s ‘failure’ to notify service rules
Bivek Mathur
JAMMU, Apr 18: Physical Education Lecturers (PELs) in Jammu and Kashmir, promoted as Gazetted Officers way back in 2008, continue to face neglect as they remain unregularized and denied pay parity, even after 17 years of service.
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This makes them the only cadre among more than 50 subject lecturers in the School Education Department with a different pay grade.
The affected lecturers claimed that despite a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) judgment in their favour-TA number 861 of 2020-directing the Government to remove the pay anomaly and grant them equal scale with retrospective effect, the order has not been implemented so far, thus adding to a frustration among their fraternity.
According to them, the delay in regularization of the PELs and removal of their pay anomaly is attributed to the lack of own service rules of the Department of Youth Services and Sports, which gained independent status in 1973 and got re-organized in 2006.
As a result, they said, 386 PEL posts created under Government order number 140-Tech-Edu of 2006 remain mired in administrative delays.
“While 193 of the 386 PELs were promoted through DPC in 2008, the remaining were appointed through PSC in 2016. However, the cadre remains in limbo due to the department’s failure to implement its own seniority and confirmation processes,” one of the affected lecturers told the Excelsior.
He said that while Physical Education Teachers (PETs) and Masters (PEMs) enjoy pay parity with their Education Department counterparts, the PELs have been left behind.
“A 2012 High Court order Number 14163 dated August 31, 2012 had also directed the removal of this anomaly, but the department has not acted on this order yet,” he said.
“Even though the SRO 225 of 2005 clearly places all lecturers in the same pay scale of 9300-34800 plus GP 5400 (revised), Physical Education Lecturers remain an exception,” the affected lecturer said, adding that authorities have often termed it a “typing error” but failed to rectify it.
Another aggrieved lecturer said, the DYSS had also constituted a committee in 2010-11 to scrutinise the eligibility of candidates.
“Though the report was submitted and the court had directed the department to begin regularisation, no action has been taken. A seniority list prepared in 2016 was also never acted upon, allegedly due to political interference and favouritism,” he said.
The J&K Physical Education Lecturers Forum has, as such, appealed to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take serious note of their plight.
They urged the administration to launch an inquiry into the delay and fix accountability.
“Physical Education Lecturers not only serve as academic staff but also lead and manage sports activities in schools. Their contribution deserves better recognition and equal treatment,” the Forum stated.
The community hoped for timely intervention to end what they describe as “institutional apathy” and restore their long-denied service rights.
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