In a move that opens Punjab’s 136 privately managed government-aided colleges to statewide scrutiny, the Punjab State Information Commission (PSIC) has directed the higher education department to initiate disciplinary action against its three officials for failing to ensure timely salary payments and furnish requested records.
Disciplinary proceedings were recommended against superintendent Naveen Gupta, a senior assistant, and a clerk of the higher education department, Punjab, for allegedly failing to provide records regarding salary payments and arrears released to MGSM Janta College, Kartarpur. Despite repeated opportunities to produce the records and clarify their stance, the commission deemed their responses unsatisfactory. The case stems from an RTI application filed by a college employee seeking details on pending salary, arrears, and EPF deposits. Though the college later informed the commission that all outstanding dues to the appellant were cleared, the hearing exposed systemic lapses regarding government grants, salary disbursements, and statutory deductions in aided colleges. Daljit Singh, principal of MGSM Janta College, Kartarpur, admitted that EPF payments to employees had been delayed. The order elevates an individual RTI complaint into a statewide compliance operation, putting salary disbursements, government grants, and EPF deposits across Punjab’s aided-college sector under strict oversight.
Records show that Punjab’s 136 privately managed aided colleges have around 3,568 sanctioned teaching posts and 2,473 non-teaching posts, totalling more than 6,000 sanctioned positions. The commission noted that EPF contributions for 2021 to March 2025 were only deposited in August 2026, highlighting delays in handling statutory funds. The college confirmed that government grants had been received up to June 2026 and EPF had been deposited up to March 2025. In a key transparency directive, the commission ordered the higher education department to publish details of salaries paid to aided-college employees on its official website, invoking proactive disclosure obligations under Section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
“The process had now been streamlined,” he added.
