Against the backdrop of demand by RJD and other political parties for reservation in jobs for Bihar natives, the state government has asked the state Public Service Commission to put on hold the ongoing recruitment process for Assistant Professors.
"The state government has asked the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) to put on hold the interview being carried out for appointment of Assistant Professors for various subjects in the state's universities," Bihar's Education Minister Ashok Choudhary told PTI today.
BPSC is holding interviews for 3345 posts in various subjects of the universities.
When contacted BPSC Secretary Prabhat Kumar Sinha said that the Commission would abide by the state government's directives.
"We have not received the letter to this effect so far, but Commission will go by the directives of the state government," Sinha said.
The domiciliary issue was kicked up by RJD chief Lalu Prasad who had demanded 80 per cent reservation for locals in jobs as well as in admission to educational institutions under the state control.
Prasad had claimed outsiders were cornering majority of Assistant Professors' posts in subjects like English.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had supported Prasad's demand and demanded Nitish Kumar government to stop the ongoing interview of BPSC for Assistant Professors in English and other subjects and conduct the interview only after incorporating the latest guidelines of UGC (which approved pre-2009 Phd).
In April this year, UGC had exempted candidates registered for M.Phil/PhD programme before July 11, 2009, from clearing the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State-Level Eligibility Test (SLET) in order to become eligible for appointment as assistant professors in colleges and universities.
On August 3, the Bihar Education minister had announced
in the state Legislative Council that the government would take action after taking legal advice with regard to halting the ongoing recruitment process for posts of Assistant Professor.
Choudhary, however, made it clear that interviews for the posts which had already completed will remain unaffected by the decision.
The government has sought information from the Commission about the subjects in which interviews have already been completed, he added.
BPSC is holding interviews for 3345 posts in various subjects of the universities of the state.
The Commission has already published the results of Maithili and English. Successful candidates in Maithili has even joined the Colleges they have been allotted.
Subjects in which interviews have concluded are- Physics, Economics, Philosophy, Psychology and Chemistry.
Choudhary said the fresh appointment process would start soon as per the amendment in UGC Regulation 2009.
The amendment in UGC Regulation 2009, the notification for which was issued in July this year allowing candidates who have completed their PhD degrees prior to 2009, makes thousands of candidates from Bihar eligible to appear in the interview for Assistant Professors.
"The fresh recruitment process would start as per amendment in UGC 2009 regulations which give a certain relaxations to the candidates with a few riders," the Minister said.
Asked when the fresh recruitment would start, he said that "It is the government's priority to complete the recruitment process for the posts of Assistant Professor as soon as possible as vacancies are rising in the universities."
Stating that the number of vacancies of Assistant Professor would go up to 9,000 in the fresh recruitment, Choudhary said that "We have asked universities to furnish the details of vacancies in various subjects till March 2016 and we believe that the vacancies may be in the range of 7,000 to 9,000.
