CUTTACK: The state government’s bid to fill up 789 posts of lecturers in different disciplines in non-government aided colleges of the state has hit a roadblock with the Orissa High Court on Wednesday quashing the advertisement by the State Selection Board (SSB) inviting applications from aspirants.
However, the court granted liberty to the SSB to issue a fresh advertisement by prescribing the minimum educational qualification as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
The advertisement was issued for the posts of lecturers in 22 subjects on March 9, this year. Two petitions challenged it as it prescribed only a Master’s degree in the subject concerned from a recognised university with at least 55 per cent marks or its equivalent grade on the date of application as educational qualification contrary to the UGC guidelines.
While disposing the petitions on Wednesday, the single judge bench of Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy said the 55 per cent marks in Master’s degree prescribed in SSB’s March 9, 2024 advertisement as the only minimum educational qualifications for post of lecturer is not legal and justified as it is not in consonance with the UGC guidelines. The UGC guidelines prescribed NET qualification and/or PhD as a mandatory qualification for appointment of lecturers and assistant professors.
Accordingly, Justice Satapathy quashed the advertisement taking into consideration that the process of selection has not yet been completed.
He also noted that the state government had already accepted to implement the UGC guidelines.