Bhopal: Department of higher education notification for the recruitment of assistant professors on 2968 posts can invite judicial scrutiny as it has tweaked the age criteria. The age bar set for the guest faculty in the direct recruitment to posts is a violation of Supreme Courts order of 2014. The State Guest Faculty Federation has accused the department of deliberately changing rules so that the recruitment gets stuck in the judicial process. In a notification issued on December 12, the department has fixed the age limit for the applicants of state to 40 years, while it has given an age relaxation of five years to the guest faculty belonging to Madhya Pradesh.
This is in contradiction to the age criteria for guest faculty, teaching in government colleges, notified by the department in Madhya Pradesh Gazette on April 15, 2014 This notification had come following an order of Supreme Court in a Special Leave Petition filed with it in the year 2014. The apex court gave huge relief to Madhya Pradesh Guest Faculty Federation by stating that all the guest teachers were eligible for the recruitment. Further, the court had ordered the department to complete the recruitment process in the state within eight months.
Thereafter the state government had filed an affidavit in Madhya Pradesh high court. In the year 2014 and again in 2016, the department had called applications for posts, however, on both the occasions due to flaws in the notifications the department was unable to complete the recruitment process and not a single appointment was made. Thus as per the Supreme Courts order and state government affidavit, all those who were eligible for the recruitment to the post of guest faculty then are also eligible for the appointment in the year 2017-18.
Now, the government is deliberately changing the rules and this would invite litigation against the entire recruitment process , said Leena Dubey, Convener, MP Guest Faculty Federation. Talking to Free Press, Dubey said that in a letter dated December 26, 2017, MP Public service Commission has written to state higher education department secretary seeking correction in the order. The copy of Supreme Court order, MPPSC correction order of December 23 and higher educations additional secretary order of December 21 have been attached to the letter, but no action has been initiated in this connection, she added.
