The National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) here, which was handed over to the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) by the State government last year, is caught in an unseemly row over the recruitment of project scientists.
Last week, the selection process held on the NCESS campus was disrupted by activists of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) who barged into the premises raising allegations of corruption and irregularities in appointment. The NCESS top brass dismisses the allegations as baseless and unsubstantiated, but the issue highlights the simmering resentment within the premier research institution, which was transferred to the Union government last January.
The recruitment row centres on the appointment to 44 temporary posts of project scientists in four divisions, for which the NCESS had invited applications last October. BJYM State vice president Rajeev R.S., who led the protest, said the timing of the recruitment, just one week before the director is due to retire, and the hasty manner in which the selection process was conducted, exposed the bid to swing the recruitment in favour of some applicants. Citing sources within the NCESS, he said the question papers had been leaked out to select candidates who cleared the selection on the first day.
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Justifying the recruitment, NCESS director N.P. Kurian said the governing council of the institution had ratified the selection process in view of the pressing need for scientific manpower and the uncertainty over his successor. “Because of the large number of applicants from all over the country, it was decided to conduct a written test, followed by an interview the same day. All the formal procedures were followed in conducting the test. An interview board with experts from outside was constituted. Only candidates who had cleared the NET were spared the written test and called for interview.”
Sources within the scientific establishment in the State maintain that the NCESS is not competent to conduct an all-India examination. They point out that the recruitment should have been left to the MoES. They say the recruitment row ensued because of the failure to ensure proper representation for the State government in the governing council of the NCESS when the institution was transferred to the MoES, a festering issue that is yet to be addressed. The BJYM is preparing to submit a memorandum to the Union government flagging the irregularities in recruitment.
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