25 State varsities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh face UGC's wrath

Hyderabad: Axe is hanging over the heads of 25 State universities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh if they fail to complete the recruitment of 2,170 faculty positions.

According to the UGC's (University Grants Commission) directive in June 2019, a deadline was set to all the colleges and universities in the country to complete the recruitment process within six months.

Speaking to The Hans India, sources in the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) and the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) said orders were already given for the recruitment process.

The Telangana State government had given a green signal for the recruitment of 1,061 faculty positions in 11 universities in the State.

Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) had conducted a common entrance test for filling up 1,109 faculty positions in 14 State universities.

As per the schedule is given to the universities, the UGC said that in the first fifteen days from the date of its directive, the higher education institutions should identify the vacant positions and the details should be uploaded on the National Higher Education Resource Centre (NHERC) portal by June 20,2019.

In turn, the files sent to the competent authorities in the State government should give their approval for the recruitment process within 30 days.

If no response is received, then it should be considered that the approvals are deemed to have been given and the universities should proceed with the recruitment process.

Once approvals are received then the universities should notify the recruitment in the next 15 days and selection committees should be constituted and the dates of the committee meetings should be fixed simultaneously.

A senior official from the TSCHE said as per the UGC directive this process should have been completed by mid-August, 2019. But the same is not yet completed.

However, in the case of Andhra Pradesh, the APPSC had conducted a common test to shortlist the candidates and interviews are still pending.

Clarifying further, sources in the Acharya Nagarjuna University said the entire process of scrutiny of applications should have been completed by the end of the fourth month of 2019 and the universities should have send call letters to the shortlisted candidates.

Besides, the list of shortlisted candidates should be uploaded on the universities' websites, apart from uploading on NHERC portal.

The interviews and selection of the candidates should have been completed within the six months as per the UGC directive.

Apart from giving the above schedule, the UGC asked the universities to strictly adhere to its revised guidelines of minimum standards for the recruitment of faculty.

It also warned any deviation and irregularities or violation of the rules stipulated by it would end in suspending the grants to the erring universities.

The State universities in TS and AP are all set to face the wrath of the UGC for not complying with its mandate.

The universities are expressing their helplessness as the TSCHE and APSCHE are not proactive and unable to convince the State governments to complete the recruitment process.