COIMBATORE:To save the Government from “embarrassment”, the Higher Education Department has directed the Bharathiar University here not to recruit fresh faculty members until an issue pertaining to some teachers recruited under the University Grants Commission’s XIth plan is resolved.
In a semi-official letter dated February 13 addressed to the Vice Chancellor G James Pitchai, the Higher Education Secretary Apoorva said that the university’s “improper handling” of a case regarding regularisation of service of faculty members who were appointed under the UGC XIth Plan had led the Government to being “unnecessarily” drawn into a contempt petition.
“Until the issue is resolved, the Government directs the University not to take any fresh recruitment and postpone the interviews if any called for, since it causes a lot of embarrassment to the government,” the Secretary has said in the letter.
An official requesting anonymity said that one of the Assistant Professors had filed a petition in the court seeking regularisation of 23 faculty members who were recruited in February 2011. Separately the Bharathiar University SC/ST Association too had filed a petition in the court seeking to punish the university authorities for committing contempt of court by making fresh recruitments. “For the misadventure of the university officials , the Government had to unnecessarily battle this case,” the official added.