To look into the demands of the protesting teachers on the issue of regularisation, Punjab Government on Wednesday set up a committee fixing a 90-day deadline for submitting the report.
The Cabinet, in its meeting on Wednesday, has decided to form an eight-member committee of teachers’ union leaders and senior officers to look into other demands of teachers, including full pay scale to 8,886 teachers of Adarsh schools, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
“This Committee will submit report to the cabinet sub-committee within three months and thereafter, the Cabinet sub-committee will examine it and submit it to the Cabinet for final approval,” said the state Education Minister OP Soni.
Besides, the Cabinet has also acceded to the long-pending demand of contractual teachers by approving regularisation of 5,178 teachers with full pay scale. In addition, the Cabinet has also regularised 650 nurses of the Health Department as per the Department's probation rules.
Of the 5,178 teachers, 5,078 were recruited in the master's cadre and 100 as classical and vernacular teachers by the Education Department in 2014, 2015 and 2016. They will get full pay scale with effect from October 2019.
In another major relief, the Cabinet has reduced the probation period from three years to two years.
Further, the teachers would be assigned seniority from the date of completion of their probation period.
These teachers are currently paid Rs 7,500 per month and their salary would be now fixed at minimum of grade pay which is Rs 15,300 per month till the time they are given full scale, said the government spokesperson.
Teachers have been protesting against the State Government, demanding regularisation of their services and full pay scale. Nurses have also been demanding regularisation of their jobs.
ITs, ULBs TO ALLOT LAND FOR EMPLOYEES’ CGHS
Cabinet has approved the allotment of land by improvement trusts and urban local bodies for employees' cooperative group housing societies at reserve prices.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to reserve three percent of residential plots for the allotment of land to government employees by these bodies, which is the long-pending demand of the employees.
Spokesperson said that the scheme would be soon notified with complete details by the State Government for allotment of one acre of land to a group of 40 employees on the lines of Maharashtra.
The three percent reservation would be provided to the employees of the State Government, besides its Boards, Corporations, Punjab and Haryana High Court, officials of the institutions working under Cooperation Department of the State Government like Markfed, Milkfed, Punjab State Cooperative Bank, Housefed and universities funded by the Punjab Government.
The applicant should have completed at least five years of regular service or should have retired within the last five years from the date of commencement of the scheme. Persons on deputation in Punjab from Government of India or any other state would not be eligible to apply under this scheme, added the spokesperson.
EMOLUMENTS OF VET PHARMACISTS, SAFAI SEWAKS ENHANCED
The Cabinet has decided to raise the emoluments of service providers (veterinary pharmacists) and ‘Safai Sewaks’ of the state’s Rural Development Department.
While the emoluments of service providers have been increased from Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 per month, those of 'Safai Sewaks' have gone up from Rs 4,000 to Rs 4,500 per month with effect from July 1, 2018.
Notably, the Animal Husbandry Department contributes about 13 percent of GDP in economic growth of the State along with agriculture sector.
The State Government has already transferred back 582 Civil Veterinary Hospitals to the Animal Husbandry Department, including 582 sanctioned posts of Rural Veterinary Officers from Rural Development and Panchayat Department, to provide efficient animal health services.
GST RELAXED TO BENEFIT INDUSTRY
To enable industrial units choose between Net GST incentives and incentivised SGST on intra-state sale, the Cabinet has approved an amendment to the Punjab Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
With the new move, units which have filed their common application form on the ‘Invest Punjab’ business portal between October 17, 2017, and October 17, 2018, will be allowed to have one-time option to opt either for Net GST incentives or incentivised SGST on intra-state sale.
Such units shall be allowed to exercise this option within 90 days from the date of the notification.
The incentivised State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) to be considered for reimbursement would mean that the eligible unit will be entitled to get reimbursement of SGST amount paid through cash ledger against the output liability of SGST on sale of eligible products.
The eligible unit shall first have to utilise all the eligible Input Tax Credit available in its credit ledger maintained on the common portal, including eligible ITC of Integrated GST as provided under section 49 of the Act as may be amended from time to time, before adjusting the SGST amount through cash ledger.