The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Govt scale for pvt schoolteachers: PSEB Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 10 There is some good news for the private school teachers in Punjab. The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB)has directed all the schools affiliated to it to pay their staff according to the state government pay scales. Besides, the payments should be made by cheques and details of the salary accounts of the teachers should be sent to the board annually. The order was passed by the affiliation branch of the PSEB on April 25, 2008, and clearly stipulates that anyone not complying with the directive could even face de-affiliation. A copy of the order reads that such an action was necessitated following an RTI application filed by a Sangrur-based organisation. The board has been asked to prepare a list of the schools that had been paying teachers in accordance with the government grades and another list of those institutes which had been paying an amount below these scales. The board has even sent a format of a proforma to the schools which has to be filled with the relevant information regarding teachers’ pay scales. While earlier the school owners had been asked to furnish the details within 10 days, the school authorities had sought more time insisting that they could not give information before July 1. The directions have brought cheers for the teachers who have been exploited since long by being under-paid. A bunch of teachers working with a local private school said they were being given Rs 2,000 per month for putting in six to seven hours of work everyday. “At times, even deductions are made from this meagre amount citing vague reasons. We are well qualified and have a good experience but we cannot speak openly due to fear of losing our jobs,” they said, adding that they expected an improvement in the system now. However, the orders have evoked a sharp criticism from the school owners. President of the PSEB Affiliated Schools Association Rajinder Sharma said, “Privates schools have always outshined the government schools in results and instead of patting our backs, the PSEB has imposed the new condition on us. Neither the board nor the government is providing any financial assistance to us. If the government gets ready to pay Rs 200 or even Rs 50 per child to us, we are ready to improve pay scales of our teachers.” A private school owner, on the condition of anonymity, said the pay package being drawn by a teacher was based on an agreement signed between them and the employee. “If they have no objection, then who are the board officials to question us. Their work is just to conduct examinations. They have failed to realise that we are not making any major gains for running these schools,” he added. Meanwhile, PSEB chairman Dalbir Singh Dhillon siad schools were bound to pay as per government grades. However, the schools have been given a choice to make payments either through cash or cheques, he added.
	Wall Cracks Improvement trust told to pay up Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, June 10 Providing relief to Ramanjit Kaur, resident of Shimla Pahari Chowk, the district consumer forum (DCF), headed by its president P.D. Goel, directed the Hoshiarpur improvement trust (HIT) to pay her within one month Rs 39,480 on account of cracks on the walls of the shop of her brother Paramjit Singh and Rs 47,500 on account of the price of less area given to the complainant with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing the complaint till the realisation along with Rs 2,000 as litigation expenses. Ramanjit Kaur had filed a complaint under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, in which she claimed that she was the sole legal heir of deceased Paramjit Singh of the local Preet Nagar, who was unmarried and his parents had died prior to his death. The HIT auctioned the shop No 7 of 35.86 sq. yards under scheme No 2 situated on the Phagwara road here on September 28, 2006, on the free-hold basis for commercial activities. Ramanjit Kaur alleged that prior to auction the shops were not allowed to be inspected by the bidders and only location, size and reserve price, etc, were disclosed. Her brother Paramjit Singh purchased the shop No 7 for Rs 5.02 lakh as auction price, plus Rs 2,000 as security, Rs 500 as agreement charges, Rs 20,080 on account of 4 per cent cess on the value of the shop. After depositing Rs 50,000 with the HIT, Paramjit Singh got the possession of the shop and thereafter it came to the notice that the shop was in a dilapidated condition and there were cracks in the walls, roof, floor and entire flooring was broken and required reconstruction.The grievance of Ramanjit Kaur was that the shop had been constructed negligently and the construction material used in the shop was of substandard quality. It was further alleged that the HIT had charged the price for 35.86 sq yards, whereas the area of shop sold to Paramjit Singh was 32.62 sq yards. The allottee also got the shop inspected from a qualified civil engineer and architect and as per his report, Rs 39,480 was required for dismantling and reconstruction of the cracks. The HIT authorities took the plea that the shop in question was checked and seen by the bidder prior to the auction and thereafter he gave the bid after going through the advertisement and the terms and conditions. At the time of the auction and handing over the possession of the shop, there were no cracks in it. The shops were constructed as per the layout plan and specifications and material for the construction was also used as per the terms and conditions of the contract. It was further denied that the area of shop is 32.65 sq yards, but in fact the complainant was put in possession of 35.86 sq yards. At the time of the auction and delivery of possession, there was no defect as pointed out by the allottee. The damage, if any, to the shop is due to the misuse. The consumer forum held that the material used for the construction of the shop was of inferior quality and also not of proper specifications and the construction was also not good. There are horizontal and vertical cracks in the southern part of the shop. The forum held that the HIT had neither got conducted any laboratory test to rebut the evidence produced by the complainant to prove that the quality of the material used was not inferior nor produced any other evidence to rebut the report. The HIT had also raised objection that the complainant was not the only legal heir of Paramjit Singh. The trust neither filed sufficient evidence to prove on record that the complainant is not the only legal heir of Paramjit Singh, nor disclosed that who are the other legal heirs of deceased Paramjit Singh. On the contrary, the complainant had filed her affidavit, wherein she had deposed that she is the sole legal heir of Paramjit Singh.
	MC poll: Parties yet to finalise list of candidates Hoshiarpur, June 10 Though the filing of nomination papers for the elections to municipal councils to be held on June 30 will begin from June 12, but all leading political parties have yet to finalise the lists of their prospective candidates in the city. According to state general secretary of the BSP Onkar Singh Jhamat, this time his party had decided to field its candidates in 26 wards of the MC and would contest these elections on the party symbol. Executive officer of the MC Sandip Tiwari told this correspondent here today that out of 31 wards in the city, seven were reserved for women of general category, three for Scheduled Caste women, five for Scheduled Castes, one for Backward Classes and 15 for general category. In the last house of the MC, there were 21 councillors of the Congress, seven of the BJP and three of the SAD. During last elections, the Congress had fielded its candidates in all wards, whereas BJP (20) and SAD (11) jointly contested the MC elections. — OC
	Attack On SDM Cops accused of falsely implicating union chief Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, June 10 Activists of different employee organisations, under the banner of the Punjab Mulazam Sangharsh Committee, organised a rally in front of the deputy commissioner’s office here on Tuesday to protest against the “false implication” of senior state leader of the Government Teachers Union and the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation Prem Rakker. The activists alleged that Rakker was being falsely implicated in the case registered in connection with the attack on the Balachaur SDM during the “shok sabha” organised by the Sandeep Murder Case Action Committee at Balachaur a few days ago. State president of the Democratic Teachers Front Bhupinder Singh Warraich, while addressing the rally, demanded cancellation of the “false and politically motivated” case against the leader. The employee organisations would jointly launch a stir if the police did not cancel the case against Rakker, they said. A deputation of the organisations also met the deputy commissioner and the SSP and submitted a memorandum. Similarly, the District Bar Association (DBA) at a meeting under the presidentship of Jaspal Singh Deol condemned the registration of a “false case” against Rajwinder Singh Lucky, an advocate, by the Balachaur police in connection with the attack on the Balachaur SDM. Terming it as high-handedness of the police, the DBA passed a resolution demanding immediate cancellation of the case against Lucky. A copy of the resolution was also submitted to the deputy commissioner. The DBA would convene a meeting to discuss its further course of action if its dem and remained unfulfilled, said association secretary Sapna Arora.
	Khanna: Bhattal befooling public Hoshiarpur, June 10 “The recent memorandum submitted to the Punjab Governor regarding prevailing skyrocketing prices of essential commodities by the leader of opposition and PPCC chief Rajinder Kaur Bhattal is merely to befool the public and if she is serious in this regard, instead of shedding crocodile tears, she should start campaign against the Congress-led UPA government to pressurise it for taking effective steps to bring down the prices.” This was stated by MP from Hoshiarpur Avinash Rai Khanna in a press note issued here today. The Congress was misleading people and had no common agenda to tackle the price hike issue. Every constituent of the UPA had separate agenda, due to which chaotic situation had arisen in the country, alleged Avinash Rai Khanna. — OC