Teachers’ recruitment process in Osmania University has shown the administration in a poor light with controversies cropping up at several stages and raising serious questions about the sincerity of people at the helm of affairs.
The present recruitment process, which is yet to be completed, was started in 2009 with the notification issued in February that year. However, it was put on hold for unknown reasons and the same posts were re-advertised twice in 2010 and 2011 due to creation of additional posts and change in norms of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for Assistant Professor cadre. Interviews started in June 2012 and continued till May 2013.
About 180 posts are being filled through this recruitment, of which 137 were granted by the government while another 15 were carried forward from the previous recruitment. About 20 are backlog posts and nine new posts were created in relatively new courses like Environmental and Forensic Sciences.
Objections were raised in all the Executive Council (EC) meetings by the members based on the petitions received by the aspirants alleging “favouritism” and “injustice” meted out to some. In fact, some aspirants went all the way to the Governor questioning selection of some candidates despite comparatively poor academic background.
Panel constituted
The pressure from several members forced the EC meeting held on July 2 to constitute a committee to go into the selection list again. The committee comprising government officials and senior professors verified all the documents and put queries on some selections. However, the EC meeting on September 3 cleared the list while putting on hold the posts where queries were raised and where the cases were pending.
“There are several issues and the administration has not been able to clear the apprehensions. Allegations made by several aspirants have to be taken note of,”B. Satyanarayana, president of OU Teachers’ Association (OUTA). The administration’s decision to send the appointment letters to the selected candidates hurriedly and asking them to report the same day, and keeping the office open till late in the night to facilitate reporting of selected teachers also raised eyebrows. “It has never happened in the university’s history. Where was the need for such hurry?” asks a senior teacher, who wished anonymity.
Precautions taken
A senior administrator defended the move saying that it was only to stop the litigants from moving the courts and stopping the entire procedure. OU Vice-Chancellor S. Satyanarayana, however, argued that utmost precautions were taken and all rules were followed.
Interestingly, the earlier recruitment in 2006-07 was devoid of any controversies for the 140-odd posts during the tenure of Prof. Suleiman Siddiqui. Despite such huge number of posts and that too the recruitment also being taken up after more than a decade, it did not receive much criticism and seniors agree that the process then was “transparent”.
