File affidavit to explain vacant teacher posts, High Court directs Haryana CS
Chandigarh, September 24
Taking note of the alarming number of vacancies in the posts of teaching staff in Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state Chief Secretary to file an affidavit explaining why regular selection for assistant professors/lecturers has not been held for more than four-and-a-half years.
The Bench of Justice Deepak Sibal and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur made it clear that the affidavit would also contain “a detailed road map as to how and when the government intends to fill up all the vacancies.”
The direction is significant as 4,738 sanctioned posts of assistant professor in various subjects in government colleges in the State of Haryana are lying vacant. The Bench, in its detailed order, referred to a letter dated September 20 by the Directorate of Higher Education to the Advocate-General.
The letter added a requisition of 1,535 posts of assistant professor in various subjects was sent by the Higher Education Department to the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) for recruitment vide letter dated September 2, 2022, but the same was kept on hold at the level of the HPSC.
The State counsel, during the course of hearing, informed the court that the total sanctioned strength of assistant professors/lecturers in the entire state 8,137. The Bench asserted: “A reading of the letter, when compared with the information given to this Court with regard to the total sanctioned strength of assistant professors/lecturers in the State of Haryana, reveals that nearly 60 per cent of the sanctioned posts of assistant professor/lecturer are lying vacant in the State of Haryana and that the last regular selection took place in the State over four-and-a-half years ago”.
The Bench added posts of assistant professor/lecturer were filled up through extension lecturers or ad hoc/contractual appointments. In such appointments, merit was a casualty.
“It is a matter of common knowledge that when regular selections do not take place many meritorious candidates refrain from even applying for the posts, primarily on account of the fact that there is no job security. Most of the times, advertisements related to ad hoc/contractual posts are published only at the local level. Ultimately, it is the students who suffer,” the Bench added.
