Ban on university posts to be lifted
From Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

AMRITSAR, Nov 15 — Higher Education Minister Manjit Singh Calcutta has said that the state government will allow Guru Nanak Dev and Punjabi Universities to fill the required posts in the teaching and non-teaching departments if these are justified by the subcommittees constituted by the Syndicates of both universities.

Talking to TNS here today, Mr Calcutta said the finance committee of Guru Nanak Dev University, which held a meeting recently, had allowed the filling of posts that were immediately required. He said the government would not interfere in the recruitment process if the subcommittees of these universities unanimously decided to do so.

It may be mentioned here that the state government had imposed a blanket ban on filling permanent, ad-hoc and part-time posts in the teaching and research wings of the universities in August. The state government had also directed the Vice-Chancellors of both universities not to fill any non-teaching post till it was justified by them. The act of the state government was being viewed as clipping the wings of the Vice-Chancellors who had enjoyed full autonomy in this regard.

Mr Calcutta, however said the government had already received the data on required posts, work-load and vacant posts from both universities. The workload and data would be scrutinised by the sub-committees of the Syndicates. After scrutiny, the Vice-Chancellors would be at liberty to fill these posts.

It may be mentioned here a meeting of the Syndicate of Punjabi University is scheduled to be held tomorrow. The Education Secretary is an ex-officio member of the Syndicate and any decision regarding the filling of the required posts in the Syndicate would automatically have the consent of the state government.

About the Chairs established after the names of Sant Kabir, Bhagat Ravi Dass, Bhagat Namdev and Dr Ambedkar in Guru Nanak Dev University, Mr Calcutta reiterated that the heads of these Chairs would have to promote research.

It was a matter of concern that the research work in the universities had suffered a lot. When informed that the heads of the Chairs had not received even a single penny by the state government except their salaries, Mr Calcutta said it was "mismanagement" on the part of the universities. The heads and other staff were not there to get salaries only. This point was raised neither by the university nor the officials concerned that the heads had not received any amount for holding seminars, purchase of books etc since the establishment of the Chairs in February, 1997.