“Surjit Kaur came to the city today and conducted an inquiry about the recent transfers. She ordered all teachers (who were issued transfer orders under rationalisation) to meet her at the R S Model Senior Secondary School tomorrow,” said an official. As many as 179 surplus government teachers had been issued transfer orders on August 22 and 23 by the five-member team headed by Dr Ajmer Singh, Administrative Director, DPI Office, Chandigarh.

According to official sources, the teachers of rural tehsils of Ludhiana district — Samrala, Payal, Khanna and Jagraon — have been called at 9 am on Monday and those of Ludhiana (East) and Ludhiana (West) have been called at 2 pm at the Shastri Nagar school. All 179 teachers transferred recently are supposed to be present as the ADPI is to review all transfer orders. The teachers can also discuss with her their objections to the stations allotted to them.

The process of rationalisation came to a halt on August 24, when Jagtar Singh Khatra DPI (Secondary Schools) issued an order in this regard, after some alleged discrepancies in the transfer orders came to the fore. Several teachers had, meanwhile, joined the new postings, while others were not allowed to join new stations by the respective headmasters and principals.

On August 27, Sudesh Bajaj, Ludhiana District Education Officer (Secondary) had said: “Since the DPI had verbally allowed these teachers to join the new postings, I gave them the go-ahead in this regard.” On August 30, however, she reverted her instructions and said: “I gave the previous instructions on verbal orders of the Deputy Director. But now I have been told by the DPI not to allow these teachers to join the new postings and to discuss these transfers with the Deputy Director.”