Technical edu dept to end services of staff at Lehra engineering college

Employees have received notice of ending their services from October 31. The employees have been seeking their pending salaries since December 2019

The Technical Education department has decided to end services of all teaching and non-teaching staff of Baba Hira Singh Bhattal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lehra, an autonomous body. The department has already given notice to all employees.

Representational image.

Employees have received notice of ending their services from October 31. The employees have been seeking their pending salaries since December 2019. The decision to end services of employees was taken in a recent meeting held between the department and the board of directors of the institute. The meeting was chaired by technical education minister Harjot Singh Bains, who is ex-officio chairman of the institute.

The Punjab and Haryana high court in April this year had directed the principal secretary of the technical education department to dispose of the property of the college to pay the salaries to petitioners, who are employees of the institute, within a month. However, the employees have received salaries of only six months.

The college had stopped admissions to four-year engineering courses in 2020.

The institute was started as a polytechnic college in 1995. Later, in 2005, the institute was recreated as an autonomous body named after freedom fighter Baba Hira Singh Bhattal, father of former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

Professor Ajit Singh, who has been serving at college for the last 17 years, said, “My total pending salary is around ₹50 lakh while the amount pending for all employees is over ₹22 crore.”

Technical education minister Harjot Singh Bains said they are following the order of the Punjab and Haryana high court. “The court had directed us to retrench services of employees and pay salaries to them. We have given time to the employees. Those who want to get only salaries will get that, but their services will end on October 31, but those who want to remain in service will be adjusted,” he said.

“The college has been lying closed for the last three years, and the amount of pending salaries is increasing every year. We intend to resolve the matter,” he added.