Punjab govt makes 3,842 temporary judicial wing posts permanent

Chandigarh, March 9

The Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday gave its consent to convert 3,842 temporary posts of judicial wing posted in the subordinate courts across the state into permanent posts.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers in a meeting held today. These 3,842 posts of judicial wing were designated as temporary posts for more than two decades and approval of the Department of Home Affairs and Justice along with the Finance Department was required every year for their continuation.

In order to ensure speedy trials of POSCO and rape cases, the Cabinet has gave its consent to set up two fast-track special courts in two districts of Sangrur and Tarn Taran to dispose of the pendency of cases pertaining to Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and rape.

The Cabinet has also accorded approval to create 20 posts, including two posts of Additional District and Sessions Judge along with 18 supporting staff for these courts.

With an aim to ensure uninterrupted and quality healthcare to the residents of the state, the Cabinet gave consent to revive 189 posts of Medical Officer (General) and create 1,390 such additional posts. This decision has been taken in larger public interest to overcome the shortage of Medical Officers in the state. The 1,940 vacant posts of Medical Officers (General) will be filled through the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, after taking them out of the purview of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).

The Cabinet also gave its consent to create 20 new posts including four Medical Officers, five staff nurses, pharmacist, lab technician, X-ray technician, OT assistant, two multitask worker, specialist doctors including gynaecologists, paediatrician, surgeon and dentist for the newly upgraded urban community health centre at Gurdaspur.

The state government has recently upgraded this urban primary health centre into a 30 bed community health centre at Gurdaspur to impart quality health services to people in the border district.

The Cabinet also gave ex post facto approval to setting up of 829 Aam Aadmi Clinics (AAC) out of which 308 are located in urban areas and 521 in rural areas. Till March 7, a total footfall of 1. 12 crore patients has been recorded in these clinics along with 31.69 lakh diagnostic tests.

The Cabinet approved ‘The Punjab Foodgrains Transportation Policy 2024’ and ‘The Punjab Labour & Cartage Policy 2024’ for the smooth transportation of foodgrains in the state. The Government of Punjab through its state procurement agencies and FCI procures foodgrains from various designated centres/ mandis. As per the policy, during 2024, foodgrain transportation works will be allotted through a competitive and transparent process.

The Cabinet also gave approval for enhancing the benefits of health insurance cover to the traders having turnover up to Rs 2 crore instead of existing Rs 1 crore. This will benefit more than one lakh traders of the state as they will be able to get free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh under this scheme. This issue was flagged before the Chief Minister during the ongoing Sarkar Vyapaar Milni by the traders after which a decision was taken.

The Cabinet okayed One-Time Settlement scheme 2023 for VAT payment from March 31 to June 30. This is a big relief to the traders of the state as this scheme launched last year had already got overwhelming response from the traders. This scheme has already collected Rs 47.50 crore through 41,814 applications received from traders.

The Cabinet also gave consent to give 18 months to colonisers for submitting the pending arrears of External Development Charge (EDC). It has been decided to reschedule the instalments of the overdue EDC in three six monthly instalments by charging interest at 10 per cent per annum and the promoter will be required to hypothecate their property against the rescheduled amount.

Other key decisions

• With an aim to providing quality healthcare to residents, Cabinet gave consent to revive 189 posts of Medical Officer (General) and create 1,390 additional posts
• The Cabinet also gave ex post facto approval to setting up of 829 Aam Aadmi Clinics (AAC) out of which 308 are located in urban areas and 521 in rural areas
• The Council of Ministers also gave nod to give 18 months to colonisers for submitting the pending arrears of External Development Charge