The Periyar University Syndicate has approved filling of 26 vacancies in the university, including the posts of professors. The Association of University Teachers (AUT) has alleged that most of the posts are to be filled under general turn (GT), which is a violation of the 200-point roster.
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The association also criticised the Higher Education Department and two government-nominated Syndicate members who gave their consent to this agenda.
AUT State president M.S. Balamurugan said there were conscious and brazen violations of the 200-point roster in the recruitment of 12 professors out of a total of 26 teaching vacancies at Periyar University, which had been approved by the Syndicate under the “General Turn” in its 114th syndicate meeting on November 6, 2023.
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The minutes of the meeting were now under severe public scrutiny. Barring posts of professors in the departments of statistics and biochemistry, the other 10 posts of professors in the departments of management studies, English, economics, botany, biotechnology, sociology, commerce, journalism and mass communication, and geology had already been filled with candidates under the “General Turn” of the roster.
In the next schedule, it should go to SC (A), followed by MBC, as per the 200-point roster. In fact, the university issued an advertisement on May 18, 2015, calling for applications for the post of Professor in English from SC (A) candidates, proving the fact that the post was already filled with GT candidates. It was shocking that in the present recruitment, the post of Professor in English, as per the minutes of the 114th Syndicate, had been allotted again under the GT category. “This is a deliberate, conscious, and brazen violation of the 200-point roster system,” Mr. Balamurugan added.
Pointing out the same violation that took place earlier at Periyar University, Mr. Balamurugan said the university filled the posts of Director of Physical Education and Librarian on September 26, 2022, violating the roster system and that they were now under the scrutiny of the government-constituted inquiry committee.
Criticising the Higher Education Department and the government-nominated Syndicate members, Mr. Balamurugan said the 111 Syndicate meeting, held on March 24, 2022, recorded in its minutes that, after getting the concurrence from the government, the incumbent administration could take steps to fill vacant posts. “How could the violations of the 200-point roster be approved by the 114 Syndicate, in which six of the seven ex-officio members and two government-nominated members were present? When the incumbent Vice-Chancellor R. Jagannathan challenges the orders of the government by adamantly refusing to abide by its directives and not suspending the Registrar-in-Charge, the minutes of the 114th meeting approving the recruitment of teachers is conscious violation of the roster,” Mr. Balamurugan added.
The Vice-Chancellor was not available for comments.