“Appointments to teaching posts through lateral entry caused financial burden of ₹ 10.16 crore to state exchequer”
K Koushal
The administration of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) has been accused of allegedly denying opportunities to aspiring meritorious candidates and restricting competition for teaching posts by promoting non-teaching technical employees.
According to the report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the administration of agriculture universities had restricted competition and denied opportunities to aspiring meritorious candidates to apply for teaching posts, and thereby compromised quality of teaching in such cases as minimum standards prescribed for appointment of teachers had not been maintained.
“The UGC regulations (1986, 1998, and 2010) stipulated that direct recruitment to the posts of Assistant Professors, Associate Professors and Professors in the Universities and colleges shall be on the basis of an all India advertisement and recommendations of duly constituted Selection Committee,” observed CAG, adding that the regulations did not provide for appointment to the post of Assistant Professor through promotion.
It reads, in violation of UGC regulations which stipulated appointment of Assistant Professors only through direct recruitment, the Agriculture Universities notified (1994, 2012 and 2018) Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) for technical posts stipulating promotion of non-teaching technical employees to teaching positions.
“While notification of 1994 specified placement of Senior Technical Assistants (STAs) borne on University establishment as Assistant Professors after successful completion of two years of probation, notifications of September 2012 and July 2018 extended the benefit of scheme to technical posts of Programme Assistants/ TAs borne on ICAR strength,” observed the Auditor, adding that accordingly, the Agriculture Universities irregularly upgraded (between July 1994 and December 2013) 10 STAs in SKUAST-J and 45 STAs in SKUAST-K, to entry level UGC pay scales of Assistant Professors.
It observed that the detailed check of eight cases in SKUAST-J and 11 cases in SKUAST-K was done and it was observed that there was an additional financial burden of ₹ 5.37 crore on the Government exchequer, on account of increased pay and allowances with future up-gradations applicable to teachers under CAS.
“Even requirement of two years of service arbitrarily fixed by the Universities for up-gradation was not followed as one STA of SKUAST-K was prematurely designated (February 1998) as Assistant Professor after completing only four months of service as STA which led to further future up-gradations and resulted in excess payment of ₹ 0.30 crore. Further, one STA in SKUAST-K was placed in the next higher pay scale before successful completion of probation with the result he was prematurely designated as Assistant Professor leading to further placement in higher scales under CAS. This had resulted in excess payment of ₹ 0.26 crore,” observed the Comptroller and Auditor General in its report.
It further stated that by virtue of notifications of 2012 and 2018, SKUAST-J upgraded (June 2021) 12 Programme Assistants/ Technical Assistants of ICAR schemes from Grade Pay of ₹ 4,200 (level 06) to Grade Pay of ₹ 6,000 (level 10). Similarly, SKUAST-K upgraded (September 2012 to June 2016) 19 Programme Assistants/ Technical Assistants of ICAR schemes from Grade Pay of ₹ 4,200 (level 06) to Grade Pay of ₹ 6,000 (level 10). Out of 19 Programme Assistants/ Technical Assistants of SKUAST-K, 10 were subsequently re-designated as Assistant Professors after completion of probation.
“Irregular placement of technical personnel borne on ICAR schemes directly into entry level UGC pay scale resulted in liability of ₹ 0.98 crore towards unpaid arrears in respect of SKUAST-J and payment of arrears of ₹ 3.25 crore to these personnel by SKUAST-K,” reads the report, adding, “By upgrading non-teaching staff to teaching positions, the Agriculture Universities had restricted competition and denied opportunities to aspiring meritorious candidates to apply for teaching posts, and thereby compromised quality of teaching in such cases as minimum standards prescribed for appointment of teachers had not been maintained.”
However, the Registrar SKUAST-J stated that the University had followed the scheme of erstwhile combined SKUAST for up-gradation of posts of STAs/ TAs to Assistant Professors and that the posts were held by STAs/ TAs in their personal capacities.
It was further stated that the upgraded personnel would be reverted back to their original posts as and when they are vacated by the incumbents on their retirement or appointment to other post. The fact remained that there were no provisions in UGC regulations or statutes of the universities, which permit filling up of the entry level post of Assistant professors through promotion from non-teaching feeding cadres.
