Students and researchers in Odisha are facing a lot of problems as regular teachers are not being appointed in universities controlled by the State Government due to a judicial wrangle. With no clarity as to when the disputes between the Union Government-controlled University Grants Commission (UGC) and the State Government will be resolved, many meritorious students who have done MPhil and PhD after winning gold medals with the highest marks of universities in various subjects are migrating to other States.
Notably, as per the earlier system, each university used to fill its own vacant teaching posts in various subjects directly on the basis of recruitment and promotion. Of course, the approval of the Vice-Chancellor and the Governor was sought for this. Ever since the State Government banned recruitment since the late 1990s under the alibi of a financial crisis, the regular recruitment process in universities has been facing a roadblock.
However, in order to meet the need for recruiting teachers against the mounting vacancies in various universities, the State Government amended the Odisha Universities Act and entrusted the responsibility of appointing teachers of the universities to the Odisha Public Service Commission. The bill in this regard was passed by the Assembly and was also approved by the then Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal. Voices of protest were raised from various quarters as the recruitment process started through the OPSC. About two years ago, the UGC filed an SLP in the Supreme Court against the move after the Orissa High Court dismissed a case against it. The OPSC therefore has not been able to go ahead with the recruitment of university teachers as the matter is pending in the Supreme Court.
Legal experts and officials associated with the case admit that it has not been finalised in the Supreme Court. It is difficult to say how many more years it will take for the Orissa University Law Amendment case to be disposed of.
Meanwhile, a large number of teaching posts are lying vacant in the Government run universities in the State. Invariably, the universities are running with less than a third of regular teachers. Utkal University, the oldest in the State, has only nine Professors, while the situation is similar in Sambalpur University.
Similarly, Ravenshaw University, Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University, Maharaja Sri Ramachandra Bhanjadeo University, Gangadhar Meher University, Ramadevi University, Fakirmohan University, Rajendra University, Madhusudan Law University, Kalahandi University, DD University, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Utkal University of Culture and Odia University are facing acute teacher shortage as a number of departments do not have Professors.
While the universities are running with the support of guest faculty, there are demands from various quarters to resolve the matter immediately and fill up all the vacant teaching posts keeping in mind the larger interest of the State and the students.
