On the issue of alleged appointments of non- National Eligibility Test (NET) /State Eligibility Test (SET) candidates in faculty positions of Kumaon University, the Governor of Uttarakhand, K K Paul has asked the Kumaon University to submit a detailed report.
The Governor has also taken cognizance of a report titled “Kumaon varsity scam gets murkier’’ published in The Pioneer on January 07 and directed the university to submit its report on the matter highlighted in the news item.
In a Right to Information (RTI) query it is revealed that the Kumaon University is sitting over letters and reminders sent by Raj Bhawan on the issue of appointments of allegedly non qualified candidates.
In a letter written by Deputy Secretary of Governor to the Vice Chancellor on January 23, it is clearly mentioned that Raj Bhawan’s letter number 2498/ GS Shiksha B3-11/2015 dated September 03, 2015, reminders dated October 05, 2015, October 19, 2015 and letter number 3397/ GS Shiksha B3-11/2015 dated October 30, 2015, the Governor who also is the Chancellor of University has asked whether or not the University intends to follow UGC guidelines 2009 and 2010 on the appointments, have elicited no response till date.
On January 13 this year also the Raj Bhawan secretariat wrote a letter number 442/ GS attaching a copy of the January 07 issue of The Pioneer and sought a factual report.
The alleged scam occurred during the years 2010 to 2013 in which twenty candidates managed to get appointment as Assistant Professors. It is alleged that these twenty candidates do not hold the necessary qualification as stipulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The UGC mandates that the minimum eligibility qualification for being appointed as Assistant Professor in any University or college is National Eligibility Test (NET), State level Eligibility Test (SlET) or State Eligibility Test (SET). The candidates who are awarded Ph.D. degrees in compliance of the UGC regulations 2009 are exempted from the above mentioned criteria.
Interestingly the University had constituted a legal counsel committee to give its opinion on the issue and the findings of the committee were brought before the Executive council meeting held on January 16 this year.
When contacted over phone, the Vice Chancellor of the University, H S Dhami told The Pioneer that the university has submitted the facts regarding these appointments to the governor. He said that the decision of appointing these candidates was endorsed by the University's executive council on the recommendation of appointment committee and he does not have any power to change the decision.
Dhami clarified that he was not Vice Chancellor at when these appointments were made (he joined in November 2013). He informed that the governor has right (under article 68 of constitution) to make changes in the decision of the executive council of University.