Panjab University staff protest enters third day, Senate members also join

The protest will continue till February 8.

The protest is being organised by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of seven colleges in Chandigarh that are affiliated with PU. The protesters are demanding the inclusion of their services under Central Service Rules as promised by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Chandigarh in March last year.

“PU senate members joined our protest today. We have full support of the PU administration also. We will intensify our protest in the coming days,” said Sumit Goklaney, a faculty member of DAV College, Sector 10, and JAC office-bearer.

Though the services of staff members of the government colleges and PU were brought under the umbrella of Central Service Rules, the faculty of the private and government-aided colleges were left out. The faculty members met senior Chandigarh administration officials in December. They were promised that a decision would be taken by January 15 but nothing happened.

There are around 730 teaching staff and 400 non-teaching staff in the seven private-run and government-aided colleges. Around 50,000 students study in these colleges.