Punjab Cabinet on Friday approved the filling of vacancies of 645 assistant professors in the state government colleges, besides filling 16 posts of principals in the government colleges by increasing their minimum qualification age from 45 to 54 years.

“To overcome acute shortage of teaching staff in 16 Government colleges, the Cabinet gave nod to fill up 645 posts of Assistant Professors through PPSC in accordance with the UGC Regulations-2018 as being notified in the notification of UGC Pay Scales for Colleges and University teachers by the State Government,” said the government spokesperson after the meeting.

The spokesperson said that this will help to accomplish the task of making newly-opened colleges fully functional as well as to meet the requirement of teaching faculty in all the existing colleges, so that new courses can be started in these colleges. This will further facilitate streamlining and improve the management and quality of education in these colleges.

Likewise, the Cabinet also accorded approval to enhance the upper age limit for direct recruitment of Principals from 45 to 53 years to enable the Associate Professors or Professors working in colleges up to the age of 53 years to apply for these posts, which will be filled through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).

This age relaxation will provide a pool of competent and eligible persons to the government from amongst whom the selections can be made by PPSC, besides enabling experienced teachers with sufficient academic contribution and administrative acumen to compete for these posts.

Waives Off Pending Power Arrears of Gaushalas till Oct 31

In another decision, the Cabinet also gave the green signal to waive off pending electricity bills worth more than Rs 9.31 crore of 366 registered (verified or identified) gaushalas, including 20 Government cattle ponds till October 31. The step is aimed at enabling the gaushalas to contribute generously for checking the problem of stray menace. This adjustment will be made from the amount of Cow Cess collected and currently lying with PSPCL.

Nod To Amend Punjab E-Stamp Rules, 2014

The Cabinet also gave approval for amending the Punjab e-stamp Rules, 2014, to start online e-stamping up to Rs 500 in addition to existing provisions. The online option of e-Stamping is running successfully in other states and the online version of the e-Stamp certificate can also be printed on plain paper. As in offline version, online version will also have a 2D barcode and a UM, so that there is no issue regarding security of stamp paper. So for the convenience of residents of State of Punjab, it has been decided to start an online option of e-Stamp certificate as per which now residents of State of Punjab can get e-Stamp certificate of value up to Rs 500 through online platform.