Lathi-charge on Teachers Protesting for Service Security Will Prove Costly for the Government : Subhash Lamba

Lathi-charge on Teachers Protesting for Service Security Will Prove Costly for the Government : Subhash Lamba

Punjab Government Must Take the Initiative to Resolve Teachers' Demands, Including Service Security

Chandigarh 14 March ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : The All India State Government Employees Federation has strongly condemned the police action—including lathi-charges, the use of water cannons, and the firing of tear gas shells—against teachers who were peacefully protesting for service security and other demands. The Federation held the Punjab government responsible for these actions and denounced it in the strongest terms. In a press statement issued on Saturday, Subhash Lamba, National President, and N.D. Tiwari, National Secretary of the All India State Government Employees Federation, stated that the Punjab government has failed to fulfill the electoral promises made to employees, including the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme. The Punjab government has been unable to even update the Dearness Allowance (DA). Consequently, whenever employees and teachers stage protests regarding these issues, it has become a routine occurrence for the police to resort to lathi-charges, tear gas shelling, and the use of water cannons against them. Just a few days prior, the police had carried out a brutal lathi-charge against a protest held in Mohali by the Joint Forum of Employees and Pensioners of Punjab, who were demanding the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and other concessions. They categorically asserted that the Punjab government is making a futile attempt to suppress the agitation of employees and teachers through lathi-charges and other acts of repression and harassment. 

They demanded that the Punjab government grant service security—through a legislative enactment in the Assembly—to those teachers who stand to be adversely affected by the Supreme Court's verdict dated September 1, 2025, and that it resolve their other pending demands. They emphasized that the agitation cannot be brought to an end without taking these necessary steps. Furthermore, they announced that the Punjab government's anti-employee and repressive attitude would be discussed across all states, where resolutions condemning its conduct would be passed.

They further explained that following the implementation of the Right to Education Act in 2009, the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) was introduced in August 2010. The Honorable Supreme Court subsequently delivered a verdict mandating the TET as a mandatory requirement for teachers, effective from September 1, 2025. This decision was implemented retrospectively—effective prior to the actual introduction of the TET (i.e., August 2010)—and all existing teachers who had not yet cleared the TET were granted a two-year window to do so. It was further decided that any teacher failing to clear the TET within this stipulated timeframe would be subject to compulsory retirement. 

While several states filed review petitions challenging this decision, the Punjab government neither filed a review petition itself nor took the initiative to pass a bill in the Legislative Assembly to provide service security to teachers appointed prior to the implementation of the TET. On the contrary, following a Supreme Court verdict, the Punjab government, on September 14, 2017, imposed a moratorium on promotions—thereby revoking the exemptions previously granted to Teaching Fellows and teachers transferred from the Zila Parishad to the Education Department—and subsequently withdrew the aforementioned notification on February 7. This decision served to further fuel the teachers' outrage. Consequently, they engaged in peaceful protests; however, the government failed to heed their grievances. Therefore, the Punjab government must pass legislation during the Budget Session to repeal this decision.