COIMBATORE: Stating that 4,000 associate professors in the state have been waiting for promotion for several years, the Association of University Teachers (AUT) has appealed to the government to exempt the rule that allows only professors to apply for registrar posts.
The AUT on Thursday submitted a petition to higher education secretary A Karthik urging him, to take steps to allow associate professors who are yet to be promoted as professors in government and aided arts and science colleges to apply for registrar posts.
AUT General Secretary M Krishnaraj told TNIE, “Based on University Grant Commission (UGC) guidelines, the state government ensured through the GO 5 that only professors can apply for higher posts in universities. In August, Periyar University invited applications from academicians, not lower than the rank of a professor of a college/university for the post of registrar. As per norms, associate professors who have worked for more than three years should be promoted as professors. However, thousands of associate professors are awaiting promotion, due to the lethargy of the higher education department.”
Further, he claimed that the university used to permit eligible associate professors to apply for the registrar post. When asked about it, Periyar University Vice-Chancellor R Jagannathan told TNIE that as per the university norm, only professors can apply for registrar posts.
As per sources, the AIADMK government issued a GO in January 2021 stating that promotion should be given to teachers under the Career Advancement Scheme(CAS). The higher education department did not implement this order and did not promote them without giving any reason. Repeated attempts to reach the higher education secretary A Karthik went in vain.