Srinagar, Mar 18: Kashmir University has denied continuation of services of contractual lecturers hired for a three-year contract last year.
The lecturers were appointed in February 2018 and as per the advertisement published, the three-year contract would include three consecutive sessions based on performance.
The lecturers were hired for the several departments included Social Sciences, Physical & Mathematical Sciences, Earth & Environmental Sciences and other subjects.
However, the qualified candidates say that after only one year, the University has denied continuation of all faculty members selected under the advertisement.
They claim that the decision to discontinue their services was taken after Kashmir University Teacher Association (KUTA) raised objections compelling the University to advertise new contractual faculty posts for session 2019.
A notice issued by the university reads: “Pursuant to the recommendations of the Dean’s Committee meeting held on 20-12-2018 duly approved by the Vice-Chancellor all heads/directors/coordinators of the dept/centers of the main and satellite campuses are hereby informed to submit the list of the contractual lecturers to be replaced for the new academic session-2019, otherwise, it shall be presumed that already appointed contractual lecturers shall continue for the next academic session.”
FA Mir, an aggrieved candidate said the members of the contractual faculty approached the varsity higher-ups who told them that some officials have raised objections to their continuation.
“The whole process of objection by KU suggests how the nepotism and dictating attitude of officials prevails unhindered within the varsity,” Mir said.
“Why did they raise objection to our continuation after one year? If they were actually serious about it, they should have objected right after the advertisement was issued,” he added.
Another candidate, who did not want to be named, said: “We approached the University several times that they may accept our genuine demand of continuation and asked different campuses to review the performance of the candidates. But it has fallen on deaf ears.”
“Those with abysmal performance should be replaced and others with good performance should continue for a new session 2019,” he suggested.
President KUTA Dr Muheet Butt said, “When you lock a position for three years, it leads to nepotism within the departments. It’s obvious that a chosen candidate will interact with University officials for three years. What happens is that when next recruitment takes place, they choose the same candidates. As a result, the meritorious students remain neglected.”
Butt claimed that KUTA had raised objections right after the advertisement was issued in 2018.
“We tried to object but the University administration didn’t listen to us. That time they let the University politics prevail and took the decision not taking the academics interests into consideration,” he said.
“We are not against the recruitment of selected candidates. If they deserve, they can appear in the interview and qualify again. But the yearly evaluation is necessary so that others get a chance as well. There are several new candidates who have studied from foreign Universities. If they qualify, it will be a boon for the students as foreign exposure matters a lot,” he said.
University Registrar Dr Nisar Ahmad Mir said, “Basically, we have been approached by new candidates who are better qualified than the chosen ones under 2018 advertisement. Majority of them are Ph.D. scholars. The research scholars have come with a genuine plea they should be given a chance as they are more qualified than the selected contractual candidates,” he said.
“There is a rule that usually the contract is for one academic session. Last year, recruitment process was made because administrators thought if the situation turns volatile then interviewing process becomes difficult and the academic batch suffers,” he said.
“Orders have been issued that the contractual candidates will continue till the new recruitment is made and if they qualify the interview, they shall continue henceforth,” he added.