I am writing this email to bring to your kind attention the serious anomalies in the recently issued recruitment notification (Adv. No. 01 of 2019, dated 04.01.2019) for teaching posts at the Central University of Kashmir. I have tried to reach out to the relevant authorities but they are all turning deaf ears to my plea.
The said notification has called for applications for various teaching positions, including that of Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors, in various departments – on deputation/re-employment/contractual basis.
Not getting into the debate of bootlessness of the futile practice of re-employing retired academics at the cost of the future of young scholars – which the above-mention notification is clearly facilitating, my complaint is primarily in connection with the absurd and illegal ‘eligibility criteria’ that has been set for the position of Assistant Professor.
General Condition no. 1 of the said recruitment notification provides that only those candidates should apply who are working or have an experience of teaching at substantive basis. To say the least, this preposterous rider is completely in violation of the letter and spirit of the UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities And Colleges And For The Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2018, issued on 18th of July, 2018. Kindly refer to Rule 4.0, 4.1 (I) on Direct Recruitments (on page 59) of Assistant Professor, which provides that a candidate with PhD or a Masters degree along with NET/SET is eligible for the position of Assistant Professor.
Also, Table 3A (on page 108) in the UGC regulations provides the criteria for short-listing of candidates for the post of Assistant Professor in Universities. The table, unambiguously, provides that teaching experience will carry the maximum of only 10 points out of 100 points for the purpose of short-listing a candidate. If teaching experience counts for only 10% of the total merit on which a candidate can be short-listed, how can the university make it the sole criteria for applying for the position of Assistant Professor at CUK?
This is gross injustice with the young scholars who are freshers and have obtained their PhDs or have a Masters degree with NET/SET. They are being robbed of the opportunity to participate in the competition for which they are eligible as per the existing law.
As practised in all other universities of India – and rightly so, the position of Assistant Professor should be open for all those who are eligible for the post as per the above-mentioned UGC regulations. Any person of ordinary prudence would argue that those who are legally eligible should be allowed to apply, and then if the candidates with teaching experience manage to score more points overall – they should very well be given preference. But keeping teaching experience as a pre-requisite to apply for the position of Assistant professor is not only illogical but also comes across as a calculated and unfair move to kill competition and suppress merit. If I may stretch it a little further, it won’t be unprecedented if this move of the university administration turns out to be a well-planned strategy to accommodate blue-eyed candidates.
Name withheld on request
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