Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has issued guidelines aimed at making the recruitment process for assistant professors in non-government aided senior colleges affiliated with public universities more transparent, fair and rule-based.
Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil said the new guidelines prioritise transparency and merit at every stage of the recruitment process. Colleges will now be required to record the **entire interview process through CCTV cameras and publish the final selection list on their websites.
The guidelines cover the recruitment process from approval of advertisements and applications to shortlisting, interviews and final selection.
Recruitment advertisements to undergo university scrutiny
After receiving the government's no-objection certificate for recruitment, the concerned institution or college will have to submit the draft recruitment advertisement to its affiliated university for approval.
The university will have to verify whether the advertisement correctly mentions educational qualifications, social reservation and horizontal reservation in accordance with the relevant University Grants Commission (UGC) rules. The university's Backward Class Cell will be responsible for this verification.
The approved advertisement will have to be published according to the university-approved draft in a national-level newspaper as well as a state-level newspaper in the 'A' or 'B' category notified by the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations.
Both online and offline applications to be accepted
Colleges will be required to accept applications online. However, candidates wishing to submit applications offline will also have to be allowed to do so.
The concerned institution or college will be responsible for providing an acknowledgement to every candidate who submits an online or offline application.
Shortlisting based on UGC criteria
Candidates will have to be shortlisted for interviews using Table 3B of Appendix-II of the UGC notification dated July 18, 2018.
The shortlisting process will also have to take into account the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teacher Cadre) Act, 2021, along with applicable social and horizontal reservation policies.
The concerned institution or college will determine the ratio for shortlisting candidates for interviews. However, the criteria used for shortlisting and the list of shortlisted candidates will have to be published on the college website.
In addition, colleges will have to submit online to the concerned university a list of all applicants along with the marks secured by each candidate during the shortlisting process.
Selection committees to be constituted as per rules
Selection committees for interviews will have to be constituted in accordance with the UGC notification dated July 18, 2018, and the provisions of government resolutions dated May 10, 2019 and January 1, 2024.
The responsibility for constituting the selection committee will rest with the concerned institution.
The interview process will have to follow UGC-prescribed rules. Universities will establish the criteria for awarding interview marks and prepare an appropriate marking sheet.
Before approving the final selection list, the university will have to verify whether the actual interview process was conducted in accordance with the prescribed marking criteria.
Entire interview process to be recorded on CCTV
A key provision of the new guidelines is the mandatory CCTV recording of the entire interview process for assistant professor recruitment.
The recording will have to be preserved as a confidential document for at least one year from the date of the interview.
If a complaint, objection, inquiry, court proceeding or statutory proceeding relating to the recruitment process is pending, the recording cannot be destroyed. It will have to be preserved until the final outcome of the matter.
Final selection list to be published online
Before approving the final selection list, the concerned university will have to verify the eligibility of the selected candidates and ensure that the entire recruitment process has been conducted according to the applicable rules.
After receiving university approval, the concerned institution or college will be required to publish the final list of selected candidates on its website.
Responsibility to be fixed for irregularities
The guidelines place responsibility for conducting the recruitment process transparently on the concerned institutions, universities, members of selection committees and government representatives.
The government said that if irregularities are detected, responsibility will be fixed on those found accountable by the competent authority.
If any malpractice is established in the recruitment of assistant professors in colleges affiliated with universities, the concerned institution or college could face strict action as per the rules.
Patil said the measures are intended to strengthen transparency, ensure adherence to recruitment norms and protect merit in the appointment of assistant professors.
The government resolution containing the guidelines has been published on the Maharashtra government's official website.
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