Shimla: After 25-Year Wait, Sukhu Govt Clears Decks for 870 PET Recruitments
SHIMLA, MARCH 20: The long-pending recruitment of 870 Physical Education Teachers (PETs) in Himachal Pradesh schools has finally moved a step forward, with the state government giving its approval to fill these posts under the new Job Trainee Scheme, albeit with key conditions attached.
Official correspondence between the Directorate of School Education and the state government reveals that the recruitment process—stuck for years due to legal hurdles—will now be carried out with fresh clarity following the High Court’s judgment in LPA No. 194/2023.
The Education Department has conveyed approval to engage 870 PETs as job trainees on a fixed monthly remuneration of ₹21,500.
The appointments will be made in accordance with the Job Trainee Scheme notified by the Department of Personnel in July 2025, and will be subject to completion of all codal formalities.
PETs step up pressure on CM
Amid these developments, a delegation of trained PET candidates has been repeatedly meeting Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, seeking his personal intervention to expedite the recruitment process.
The delegation recently met the Chief Minister again in April 2026, urging him to ensure that long-pending justice is finally delivered to them.
Many of these candidates have been waiting for over two decades and have now crossed 50 years of age.
They have appealed to the Chief Minister to issue directions for immediate appointments without further delay, stressing that they should not be made a “football” by being made to run between the Secretariat and the Directorate.
The delegation said the prolonged back-and-forth has already caused immense hardship and uncertainty, and demanded that the government act decisively to end the delay.
Long legal battle behind recruitment
The recruitment of PETs has seen multiple twists over the past few years. Initially, in 2021, approval was granted to fill 2,640 posts in the Education Department, including 870 PET posts, on a contract basis under existing Recruitment and Promotion (R&P) Rules.
However, the process was stalled after a “status quo” order by the High Court in the Yog Raj case. Though the court delivered its judgment in July 2022, the matter remained tied up due to subsequent appeals and stay orders.
It was only after the High Court, in January 2026, allowed the state’s appeal and set aside the earlier judgment that the path for recruitment was cleared.
The court also dismissed multiple connected petitions, effectively removing the legal roadblocks that had kept the process in limbo.
Even as the legal hurdles have been cleared, the shift from contract/regular recruitment to the Job Trainee Scheme has raised administrative and procedural questions within the department.
The Directorate of School Education had sought clarification from the government on whether the recruitment should proceed under the existing R&P Rules of 2011—which provide for 100% direct recruitment on a regular or contract basis—or under the newly introduced Job Trainee Scheme.
Another concern flagged was whether the recruitment process should be held back until necessary amendments are made in the R&P Rules to incorporate provisions related to job trainees.
Government gives nod, action to begin
Responding to the Directorate’s queries, the government has now approved proceeding with the recruitment of 870 PETs as job trainees. Officials have been asked to initiate further necessary action in line with the new policy framework.
The move is expected to bring relief to hundreds of trained PET candidates—many of whom have crossed 50 years of age—after waiting for over two decades for government jobs.
However, the nature of engagement as “job trainees” instead of regular or contract employees is likely to remain a point of debate, especially among aspirants who have been seeking stable employment under the traditional recruitment rules.
While the approval has broken the deadlock, the actual rollout will depend on how quickly the department completes procedural requirements and issues recruitment notifications.
The decision also addresses a critical gap in schools across Himachal Pradesh, where a shortage of Physical Education Teachers has been affecting sports activities.
This is particularly significant at a time when both the state and Centre are pushing for sports development under initiatives like the Khelo India mission, which emphasizes nurturing talent at a young age.
Despite such flagship programmes, many government schools have been functioning without PETs, leaving students deprived of structured physical education and sports training.
The affected PETs have long demanded that the government clear the backlog batch-wise, dating back to the year 2000, to ensure justice for qualified candidates who have waited for employment opportunities for more than two and a half decades.
With this approval, the government has taken a significant step toward addressing both unemployment among trained PETs and the shortage of sports teachers in schools.
However, candidates say the real test will lie in timely implementation and whether all pending batches are accommodated fairly.
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