Election Commission clears way for teacher recruitment in Maharashtra

In a letter to the chief electoral officer of the state last week, the ECI said that while 89 colleges that have published advertisements for 703 appointments could continue with the selection process, 29 colleges were permitted to issue advertisements for 167 posts.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has allowed degree colleges in the state to continue the recruitment process to hire more than 3,500 people for teaching and non-teaching staff in their government-aided sections, but directed that the names of successful candidates appointments should be announced after the final phase of polling in Maharashtra on April 29.

PTI

The state government had since March 10 halted the recruitment process to avoid a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) imposed by the ECI for the ongoing general elections. As many as 3,580 positions - around 40% vacant positions for teachers in degree colleges and universities - will be filled after the state lifted its freeze on teacher recruitment after three years.

In a letter to the chief electoral officer of the state last week, the ECI said that while 89 colleges that have published advertisements for 703 appointments could continue with the selection process, 29 colleges were permitted to issue advertisements for 167 posts.

During the model code of conduct period, the government is prohibited from announcing and implementing new schemes and policies, lest it influence the electorate.

On March 22, state education minister Vinod Tawde in a letter to the governor and chancellor of the state's public universities, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, had sought permission to conduct interviews for the recruitment process and issue no-objection certificates (NOCs) to colleges. He said the decision to appoint college staff was taken before the code of conduct came into effect.

"The government has issued NOCs to colleges to appointment staff. Some colleges have issued recruitment advertisements before model code of conduct came into effect. It's necessary to conduct interviews [of the applicants] and make appointments in the prescribed duration for the benefit of students," read the letter.

Tawde added that colleges that have applied for NOCs should be issued certificates and be allowed to issue advertisements.

The National Forum for Quality Education (NFQE), a Mumbai-based non-governmental organisation, had requested the ECI to intervene in the issue. "The recruitment process was on a hold for more than three years. There are around 10,000 teaching aspirants who have cleared the qualifying examinations and are awaiting recruitment. Their appointment doesn’t violate MCC ," said Ramesh Zade, president, NFQE.

“We will now request the commission to allow issuance of NOCs to the colleges as well.”