Adjust extension lecturers or face action, principals told

Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 14

The Higher Education Department has cracked the whip on government college principals over the adjustment of extension lecturers in their respective colleges.

“You are hereby warned that any incidence of denial to extension lecturers (in case workload is available in relevant subject as per student strength) will make you liable to face departmental proceedings,” A Sreenivas, Director and Special Secretary, Higher Education Department, said in an order to college principals.

The order is the offshoot of several complaints of “principals not adjusting the extension lecturers despite availability of workload as per student strength”.

“Even such extension lecturers are not being adjusted who have been displaced after joining of regular assistant/associate professors. This action of the principals concerned is in violation of the instructions dated July 13, 2018. Due to such unbecoming behaviour of the principals, the state government is facing unnecessary litigations,” the order asserted.

More than 1,800 extension lecturers have been working in government colleges at a fixed salary of Rs25,000 per month for the past several years. Recruited to tide over the shortage of faculty in government colleges, all of them are either NET-qualified or PhD holders and are working against the sanctioned workload.

Recently, there was apprehension among extension lecturers about their job security following the state government’s move of taking over the grant-in-aid staff working in government-aided private colleges and adjusting them in government colleges.

The extension lecturers had been demanding job security on the pattern of the guest school teachers, whose services were recently “regularised” by the state government.

As the extension lecturers fulfilled all eligibility conditions for appointment as assistant professors, they had been demanding job security.

‘Comply or face action’

}You are hereby warned that any incidence of denial to extension lecturers (in case workload is available in relevant subject as per student strength) will make you liable to face departmental proceedings.— A Sreenivas, Director (higher education), to Principals