Ludhiana, May 31 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought a response from the Punjab government over vacancies in the Punjab Education Tribunal. The court has directed the government to inform it about the steps taken to fill the vacant and soon-to-be-vacant posts before the next hearing scheduled on July 8. The directions came on a PIL filed by Association of United College Teachers (AUCT), alleging that prolonged delays in appointments had left hundreds of education-related cases pending for months. According to the petition, the Punjab Education Tribunal is a three-member body comprising a chairman, an administrative member and an academic member. The tribunal is headed by chairman Ashok Kumar Verma, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, whose tenure is set to expire in June. Academic member Dharam Singh Sandhu, a retired college principal, was also due to complete his tenure in July, while the post of administrative member is already vacant. The PIL highlighted how the shortage of members had adversely affected teachers awaiting justice, adding that due to the vacancies, cases remained pending for months, causing unnecessary hardship to affected employees.HTC...