The Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission has directed the School Education Department to put on hold the next stages of recruitment of 1,013 school lecturers, citing a lack of clarity over the roster registers used for implementing the reservation policy.The commission has also sought an Action Taken Report from the department by August 3. The issue has come to the fore after the department submitted records in response to information sought by the commission regarding the implementation of the reservation policy in the lecturer cadre for which recruitment had been advertised.The Directorate of Education Recruitment, Punjab, on June 25 invited applications for 1,013 lecturer posts comprising 829 fresh vacancies and 184 backlog vacancies in various subjects.Soon after the advertisement was issued, concerns were raised that it did not clearly specify the subject-wise and category-wise distribution of vacancies reserved for the SC and BC. The issue subsequently came under the commission’s scrutiny.The commission took up the matter on its own and held its first hearing on July 3, during which department officials appeared before it. Later, the department was directed to submit a detailed report at the hearing scheduled for July 14.Commission chairman Jasvir Singh Garhi said in response to the information sought by the commission, the department submitted records through a letter dated July 14. However, several deficiencies were found in the records.He said the selection lists for direct recruitment in the cadre concerned from 1990 to 2025, along with merit marks of the selected candidates, had not been provided. In its response, the department had stated to the commission that since the records were old, it would take around two months to compile them, Garhi added.The commission also pointed out that verified copies of the original roster registers for the subjects for which the recruitment advertisement had been issued had not been provided. Instead, computerised copies showing the names of currently working employees had been submitted.It also said copies of no objection certificates or approvals issued by the Welfare Department regarding the de-reservation or carry forward of reserved points for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes had not been provided.After examining the incomplete records, the commission alleged that the department had committed large scale violations of the reservation policy and instructions regarding the preparation and maintenance of roster registers.The commission said the alleged violations could affect the constitutional rights of SCs, BCs, women and other reserved categories.The commission has directed that the next stages of the recruitment process for all lecturer cadres be kept on hold until the original roster registers, selection lists showing merit marks and approvals relating to the carry forward or de-reservation of reserved points are provided.