Hiring of assistant professors in varsities to be fast-tracked: Minister

Bihar’s education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Tuesday conceded that the process of appointment of 4,638 assistant professors against vacancies in various universities had got delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic and said the process would be accelerated so that new teachers could join in coming months.

Bihar’s education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Tuesday conceded that the process of appointment of 4,638 assistant professors against vacancies in various universities had got delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic and said the process would be accelerated so that new teachers could join in coming months.

Bihar education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary. (HT Photo)

Replying to a call attention motion, Choudhary said interview process for candidates for 16 subjects has already been over while it’s under way for rest of the subjects. He said government had advertised for filling 4,638 posts of assistant professors for 52 subjects and appointment process was being handled by Bihar State University Service Commission( BSUSC).

“Yes, the process of appointments of assistant professors had got delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic since early 2020 , which affected work. But , we are now accelerating the process of appointments and it will be done soon,” he said.

BJP’s Nitish Mishra had raised the question through a call attention motion, seeking a government response on delay in appointments of teachers against vacancies in universities by the BSUSC and academic loss being suffered by students due to the shortage of teachers.

Compensation for land

In another call attention motion, revenue and land reforms minister Ram Surat Kumar assured the House that his department would process all pending applications of granting compensation to farmers/land owners who have given their land for national highways and other projects. “ In case there has been some delay, we will be accelerate the payment of compensation to those who have given land for various projects provided their documents are in order,” the minister said.

RJD’s Rahul Tiwary had brought the call attention motion, highlighting that farmers in big numbers who had given their land for various national highways, including Patna-Buxar four-lane road, were still deprived of compensation due to alleged red tape and administrative lapses.

“I will examine such cases. If any officer is found to have deliberately harassed or caused delay in making payments of compensation to genuine applicants, they would be held accountable. We will also ensure that payment of interest is made to applicants for the period of delay in getting their due amount against grant of land by deducting the said amount from salaries of erring officials,” the minister said.