BHAWANIPATNA: Guest faculty members are running the show in Maa Manikeswari University (erstwhile Kalahandi university) which is grappling with acute shortage of regular staff.
The university offers post-graduate (PG) courses in 17 subjects with each department having a sanctioned strength of one professor, two associate professors and four assistant professors. However, against the requirement of 112 teaching faculty, 95 posts are lying vacant. The vacancies include the posts of 16 professors, 30 associate professors and 49 assistant professors.
The university has around 544 PG students. To manage the affairs, the authorities are forced to take the help of junior lecturers and guest faculty. Sources said recruitment of faculty members has been held up due to litigation in various courts challenging the Odisha University Act, 2020.
Similarly, there is also an acute shortage of non-teaching staff in the university. For instance, three of the four posts of laboratory assistants are lying vacant. Out of 27 posts of laboratory attendants, 24 are yet to be filled up. There is no head clerk, junior assistant, cashier and PET in the university. The university also doesn’t have any librarian.
Vice-chancellor Sanjaya Satpathy said the university is getting teaching faculty in phases. “We are conducting academic activities with the help of guest faculty and quality education is being imparted to students. We expect posting of all faculty members soon.”
Regarding the shortage of non-teaching staff, Satpathy hoped that the vacancies will be filled soon. “Despite the shortage of manpower, the university is abuzz with academic and non-academic activities. Cultural, intellectual and sports activities are being conducted regularly,” he added.
In 2019, the state government upgraded Bhawanipatna autonomous college to Kalahandi Unitary University. In August 2021, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced University Grants Commission recognition to the university under Section 2(F) of the UGC Act, 1956. Last year, the government renamed the institution to Maa Manikeswari University after the presiding deity of Kalahandi district.