Panjab University yet to implement reservation roster for teachers’ recruitment

PU in December last year had received a letter from the University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding the implementation of reservation in teachers’ cadre

Months after the Panjab University (PU) syndicate decided to revise the reservation roster for the direct recruitment of teachers, its implementation is still pending at the university.

(HT File Photo)

PU in December last year had received a letter from the University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding the implementation of reservation in teachers’ cadre. The draft reservation roster for recruitment of assistant professors prepared by the university was taken up by PU syndicate in March but was not approved.

Following the syndicate’s decision, a panel headed by syndicate member Navdeep Goyal was constituted by PU to revisit the reservation roster and remove the discrepancies in it. However, till now, the reservation roster was not taken up again in PU syndicate for approval. The panel has asked the departments to come up with objections (if any) in the draft reservation roster.

Syndic Navdeep Goyal said, “The committee has finalised the reservation roster a few months ago. It is pending for approval as no syndicate meeting is being called.”

In March 2018, the UGC in its notification had directed the universities to prepare a reservation roster keeping the departments or subjects as one unit for all levels of teachers as applicable. Also, it has notified that the roster, department wise, shall be applied to the total number of posts of each category (professor, associate professor and assistant professor) within the department.

Roster under review: V-C

PU, which is already grappling with faculty crunch, cannot appoint teachers without the reservation roster. During a meeting in January, PU syndicate had restricted the new appointments of assistant professors in the university till the reservation roster is prepared.

In the draft reservation roster, which was tabled in the syndicate in March for the recruitment of assistant professors, out of total 978 posts of assistant professors, 146 have been reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, 73 posts for Scheduled Tribes and 39 for physically handicapped.

PU senator Rajat Sandhir said, “The university cannot initiate any recruitment till the reservation roster is finalised. It is high time to finalise the same so that recruitment could be initiated in the teaching departments soon.”

“The reservation roster is under review,” said Panjab University vice-chancellor Raj Kumar.