CUTTACK: Acting on a PIL seeking immediate intervention to fill 1,332 teaching posts lying vacant across 15 state-run universities in Odisha, the Orissa High Court has sought response from the government and the institutions on the matter.
The petition, filed by high court advocate Prabir Kumar Das, was taken up for hearing on Monday by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice MS Raman.
Appearing in person, Das highlighted that no faculty recruitment has taken place in these public universities since 2022, leading to a sharp rise in vacancies that is adversely affecting both teaching and research activities.
The bench, taking serious note of the submissions, issued notices to the state government and registrars of all 15 affected universities, including Utkal University, Ravenshaw University, Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University and Madhusudan Law University.
The matter has been posted for further consideration on November 10, by which time responses all the parties are expected.
According to the PIL, of the 285 sanctioned posts of professors, 242 remain vacant; out of 578 sanctioned associate professor positions, 436 are unfilled; and 654 out of 1,143 assistant professor posts have not been filled. Das argued that this alarming shortage of faculty has brought the academic functioning of these institutions to a near standstill.
The petition paints a grim picture, particularly in institutions like Khalikote University, Vikram Dev University, and Madhusudan Law University, where all sanctioned teaching posts, 112, 111, and 50 respectively, are vacant. Ravenshaw University is also struggling, with 161 of its 267 teaching posts unoccupied. So is the case with Utkal University where 133 of the 238 sanctioned posts are vacant.
This unprecedented crisis has forced these universities to depend heavily on guest faculty to ensure continuity of classes, the petition stated.
Das also alleged that neither the state-run universities nor the state government have taken concrete steps to address the situation, despite the scale of the crisis.