PFB urges Govt to clear 11-yr delay in promotions for visually impaired professors
Ferozepur, August 10, 2025: The Progressive Federation of the Blind – PFB (Punjab Unit) has appealed to the Punjab Government for urgent intervention in the long-pending promotion of visually impaired Assistant Professors to Associate Professors in the state’s Higher Education Department — a promotion due since 2014.
In a memorandum addressed to the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Punjab, Anil Gupta, General Secretary of the Federation, stated that despite repeated representations to the Higher Education and Social Security Departments, no action has been taken, resulting in denial of justice for the affected individuals – Dr Rajesh Mohan and Dr Sham Sunder Sharma, for the past 11 years.
The memorandum highlights that the two affected professors, appointed in 1999 and 2000 under the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act (now RPWD Act, 2016), have been unjustly overlooked for promotion, even as junior colleagues appointed after 2007 have been promoted.
The Federation pointed out that the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations of 2012 regarding the Academic Performance Indicator (API) do not apply to those appointed before 2010. Furthermore, UGC letters from 2010, 2013, and 2018 clearly exempt those who completed refresher and orientation courses up to 2018 from the API requirement. However, the Punjab Government has allegedly failed to implement these directives.
Calling the delay discriminatory, Gupta urged the Commissioner to direct the Punjab Government to grant the overdue promotions, stressing that withholding them violates both the spirit and provisions of the disability rights law.