Hyderabad Central Universities stare at 5,000 vacancies
Recruitment was freezed due to the legal confusion.
Hyderabad: As many as 5,000 vacancies in Central universities have not been filled due to the legal confusion over the roster system. With the general elections on, the recruitment process will not start before July.
The ordinance issued by the government to start the recruitment on the 200-point roster system is being seen as an attempt to fill these vacant posts, but the process is lengthy and will take time.
A senior professor in Hyderabad Central University on condition of anonymity said there was a virtual freeze on recruitment because of the legal confusion.
“Whenever the University Grants Commission (UGC) was approached, they said recruitment can’t be carried out till the legal hurdles are cleared. Due to this, contract lecturers continue in the jobs,” he said.
“The annual plans that were drawn out were before the academic year and recruitment was not taken up in those plans due to the legal confusion. With the ordinance, it will take some time to commence the process, and it won't be possible to fill these posts by the beginning of the academic year,” he said.
The 200-point roster system means that for every 200 posts, 99 are reserved for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Classes applicants, according to the 49.5 per cent reservation of government jobs. Of the 20 departments in the University of Hyderabad, each department has vacant posts in the middle and senior level.
There are departments where the research scholars have to be mentored and one professor ends up bearing all the burden. This is also affecting the quality of teaching and creating hurdles for teachers to improve their upgrading skills.
A senior professor on condition of anonymity explained, “The crux is now to improve the standards. The University Grants Commission tells us not to approach them for extra money for projects. We do not have the means to increase our revenue. This is a really difficult situation for the universities where competition demands excellence as adequate resources are required in terms of both, technology and manpower.”