CUTTACK: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday registered a fresh complaint on the running of the Central University of Orissa (CUO) with 87 per cent vacancies in the post of teachers.
The complainant, a Jeypore-based human rights activist and advocate, Anup Kumar Patro filed a fresh complaint alleging the large-scale vacancies in permanent faculty at the university continue despite the commission’s order concerning it on August 2, 2019.
In the order, NHRC had directed the secretary of Union Ministry of Human Resources and Development to take within eight weeks ‘appropriate action’ about filling up of sanctioned posts of teachers at CUO in Koraput’s Sunabeda. As per the complaint the Central University, established in 2009, has a sanctioned strength of 154 teachers including professor (23), associate professor (43) and assistant professor (88).
However, the university is presently functioning with 15 assistant professors, four associate professors and one professor. Only one professor and three associate professors have been appointed since the NHRC’s direction in 2019.
The rights panel registered the fresh complaint (20148/IN/2023) categorising ‘Central University of Odisha students’ as ‘victims’. Due to non-posting of teaching staff as per the sanctioned strength, the students of the university are deprived of their day-to-day studies and it also violates their human rights under Article 14 of Constitution that guarantees ‘equality before the law, the complaint contends.