UGC asks Odisha govt to abide by SC order on recruitment in universities

Bhubaneswar: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the Odisha government and Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) to abide by the Supreme Court’s stay order on recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in universities.

UGC secretary Rajnish Jain has written letters to the Odisha higher education department and OPSC in this regard.

The Supreme Court on April 20 issued a stay on the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020 through which the state government had sought to control appointment to important academic and administrative posts in state universities, including the recruitment of teaching staff.

The court stayed the recruitment process in state universities for the next three months after hearing a petition filed by the UGC and retired professor of JNU, Ajit Kumar Mohanty.

The court has also sought a reply from the Odisha government and set the date for the next hearing on the matter after two months.

However, the UGC said, it had noticed that, despite the stay granted by the SC, the OPSC, which is a party in the case, is continuing to undertake recruitment to the post of assistant professor (sociology) and assistant professor (commerce) pursuant to an advertisement issued in 2020-21.

“Since the recruitment of teachers /faculty by the OPSC, and that of non-teaching staff by the State Selection Board (SSB), is directly in issue in the aforesaid SLPs pending before the SC, the continuation of the recruitment process will be in the teeth of the stay order granted by the court,” Jain said in his letter.

Stating that the court’s stay order also applies with respect to any recruitment process that commenced prior to the order, he urged the state government to refrain from undertaking any further step(s) for any recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff, including the above mentioned one.

The UGC secretary further warned that it also reserves all its rights to take appropriate legal remedy in this regard.

(IANS)