45 VNSGU posts vacant even a year after approval

Surat: While the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU) authorities are dragging their feet in recruiting teachers to the sanction 45 posts, its students will have to forgo quality studies or benefit from a better academic infrastructure.
The 45 posts of teachers out of 47 vacant grant-in-aid posts had been approved by the state government in the beginning of 2019. The varsity has total 137 sanctioned teaching positions in grant-in-aid basis, of which 47 are lying vacant.
Top university officials formed a committee to finalise the recruitment criteria, but is yet to submit its report. Due to the delay in the recruitment process, the various departments may not get full time teachers for another academic or even more, thus harming academic growth at various levels.
“Some other universities who got similar approval from the government in 2019 filled up the vacant posts immediately unlike VNSGU. I fear that post Covid-19, the government may even stop recruitment on a few posts,” said a temporary lecturer at a college.
Besides delaying recruitment on approved posts, the university top officials also extended probation period of 14 teachers who had been appointed in 2017 initiating various inquiries on them and thereby not giving them permanent appointment.
These teachers, whose probation period was supposed to end in two years of recruitment, have approached the court against the university’s stand of extending their probation multiple times.
“University got approval for 45 posts and a committee has been set up in 2019 to examine various aspects of recruitment. The committee is yet to submit its report. The university will try to speed up the process,” said Hemali Desai, in-charge vice-chancellor, VNSGU.