Tough to meet UGC deadline for appointment of teachers in Bihar

PATNA: The universities in Bihar are little bothered to follow the UGC directives and fill up the vacant posts of teachers by the end of December. Nearly 8,000 posts of assistant professors in 13 universities and 260 constituent colleges of the state are lying vacant for the past several years.
With a view to addressing the issue of shortage of teaching faculty in higher education institutions, the UGC had, in June this year, issued fresh guidelines for recruitment of faculty within six months.The UGC guidelines state that the higher education institutions should follow the selection process as per their Acts and statutes and in accordance with the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2018.
The UGC has reportedly threatened to stop its development grants to the universities if they fail to initiate the process of filling up of all vacant posts of teachers soon. The UGC has issued as many as four such warnings in the last five months and the state universities have been left with only two months to meet the UGC’s deadline.
As things stand today, the newly constituted Bihar State University (Constituent Colleges) Service Commission has not yet advertised the teachers’ vacancies in different universities of the state. The commission would advertise the vacancies only when it receives the exact figures of subject-wise vacancies with reservation roster. But sources assert that all the universities have not so far furnished to the commission the details of vacant posts of faculty in their institutions.
The state education department on Wednesday directed the universities to furnish the details of subject-wise vacancies of teachers latest by November 15. This directive was issued at a meeting of the registrars held at the secretariat. The department made it clear that all the vacant posts of different universities would be advertised by the end of December this year, sources said.
At a meeting of the VCs in May this year, then chancellor Lalji Tandon had directed the universities to furnish to the commission the exact vacancies of assistant professors to expedite the process of appointments at the earliest.
Patna University (PU) has furnished the details of over 150 vacancies of assistant professors in different subjects more than a month back, said registrar Manoj Kumar Mishra. There are more than 800 sanctioned posts of teachers in PU against which only 302 are working at present. But the vacancies include superior posts of readers (associate professors) and professors sanctioned by the UGC as well as the state government over the years.
Strangely enough, there is not a single directly recruited professor or associate professor in PU. All the teachers have been elevated to the posts of professors and associate professors through time-bound promotion, merit promotion or promotion under career advancement scheme. Since these promotions are supposed to be personal promotions, the original post of lecturer or assistant professor would remain occupied until the incumbent superannuates, said a PU official.