CAG finds nexus among varsity authorities, mediators, candidates
Corrupt practices followed in several appointments of the Berhampur University here have been exposed in a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
A three-member CAG team investigating into the appointments of faculties in the Post-Graduate Departments has found gross irregularities which have been possible due to a nexus between the university authorities, mediators and candidates. The CAG has found that the UGC norms and guidelines were compromised to satisfy vested interests.
According to the CAG report, the Berhampur University authorities havezgiven direct appointment to 40 faculty positions in different Post-Graduate Departments without following standard procedures.
The reported violations includes appointing candidates with lesser qualification than the required/desirable qualifications; promoting Readers to the post of Professors; non- issue of call letters to several meritorious and deserving candidates with an intention to eliminate them so as to show favour to a few candidates, among others.
The CAG said that one prospective candidate in each interview board remained absent raising suspicion to the fairness of the selection process. There is a speculation that these prospective candidates were asked not to attend the interview in order to pave way for picking up less meritorious ones.
Most significantly, the Vice-Chancellor reportedly did not nominate any one to the Selection Committee, nor was he involved in the selection process in regard to the faculty positions reserved for SC, ST, OBC and Women candidates.
The university has appointed 25 faculty members in the reserved positions which shocked the CAG team, sources said. On these appointments, the Vice-Chancellor has failed to provide appropriate answer, the CAG report pointed out.
Notably, for appointment of faculty members (lecturers, Readers, and Professors) in colleges and universities in particular, the UGC has prescribed certain guidelines and minimum qualification required for each such position. The Department of Higher Education by a circular in 2010 has made the provisions mandatory.
According to the UGC norms, a candidate for the post of Professor should have acquired a PhD degree; must have authored 10 books or equivalent scholarly papers published in peer reviewed journals; have a minimum teaching experience of 10 years at PG level and prescribed API (Academic Performance Indicator) score.
On the other hand, a candidate for the post of Associate Professor/Reader should have a PhD; authored five books or equivalent scholarly papers published in peer reviewed journals; have a minimum experience of eight years in teaching or research and have prescribed API (Academic
Performance Indicator) score. But the university had given appointment to three Professors, six Readers, and 31 lecturers in January 2013 without following the above prescribed guidelines in clear violation of the UGC norms.
While giving appointment to these faculty members, the University Syndicate had relaxed the rules which the CAG came to know during the investigation.
The CAG came to know further that prior to the appointment, the university in its advertisement published in newspapers prescribed minimum three books for a candidate for the post of Professor as against 10.
Similarly the post of Reader, the university had prescribed three books and five years minimum teaching experience against five books and eight years’ teaching experience. These were done apparently with vested interests, said an insider. In spite of the arbitrary relaxation of the prescribed UGC guidelines and norms, the university reportedly did not maintain in its database all that it did to make the appointments which shocked the CAG team, sources said.
More shockingly, the CAG, during the course of investigation, also came to know that, that the university authorities did not prescribe the minimum number of candidates/applicants for holding the interview in each discipline.
The CAG expressed its serious concern that even only one candidate was interviewed and offered jobs by the selection committee in seven PG Departments, namely, Chemistry, Economics, Botany, Physics, Zoology and IRPM. The CAG reportedly suspects foul play in dispatching call letters to all the eligible candidates for attending interview.
The university authority reportedly failed to produce the copy of the call letters sent to all eligible candidates, sources said. Similarly, as per the UGC norms, the Vice Chancellor should nominate one member to each selection committee meant for SC, ST, OBC, and Women candidates, but more shockingly, none of the above selection boards has the members nominated by the VC.
On the contrary, the university selected 25 faculty members against these reserved positions, the report pointed out. The intellectual circle here has made the Government and the Chancellor’s office responsible for such mess.
The teachers and administrators who are involved in such scams are given alluring posts as a token of reward. When there are several faculty positions still lying vacant, why the Government has appointed teachers in the post of Registrar, Controller of Examinations and the Comptroller of Finance affecting the routine teaching programme of the university, questioned a former Professor.