RTI query exposes scam in recruitment of Telangana University faculty

Times of India: Hyderabad: Friday, March 28, 2014.

A report obtained under the Right to Information Act has thrown light on a massive recruitment scam in Telangana University.

According to the report, several faculty members who joined the university this January do not have even the basic qualifications required to be considered for the posts they currently occupy. Incidentally, the recruitment notification issued by the university on May 25, 2012 was challenged in the high court.

While the court had vacated the stay on recruitments after the university filed a counter petition, sources alleged that the report of the probe committee set up by the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) was not submitted before to the court.

The report (a copy of which is in the possession TOI) says some candidates were recruited in posts not related to their field of study. The report also names candidates who did not have enough teaching experience to qualify for such key jobs. It also throws light on flaws in awarding marks to deserving candidates. "Several candidates who deserved better marks were awarded less and others were promoted," a source alleged. As per the report, the notification issued by the university violated norms of recruitment. Curiously, the recruitment has not yet been ratified by the Executive Council of (EC) of the university.

The report says that while the university scrapped five-year integrated programme in two streams (economics and chemistry) and replaced them with two-year masters programme, recruitment notification listed posts for the former.

This in fact changed even the 'roster' points, thereby affecting the future recruitment process, the report said.

In 2012, contract lecturers (academic consultants) had accused the university administration of resorting to foul methods in recruitment of professors, associate and assistant professors. Allegations of the university authorities taking Rs.10 lakh to Rs.50 lakh for ineligible candidates to give them postings flew thick.

Following the latest report, Telangana University Academic Consultants Association has asked the university to cancel the recruitments. "As we have been fighting this battle for the past two years, the university has turned against us. Ten of the 50 contract lecturers were thrown out for challenging the recruitment," an association member said.