Question : Appointment of Professors

(a) whether the Government is aware that University Grants Commission has put a ban on the
appointment of Professors and Lecturers in the country and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government has any plan to open the recruitment of Lecturers/ Professors in
the country for the Universities and if so, the details thereof; and
(c) whether it is a fact that there is an acute shortage of Lecturers/Professors in various
Universities of the country and if so, the University-wise details thereof along with the action
taken or to be taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a) to (c): The recruitment of faculty was being done based upon clause 6(c) and 8(a)(v) of
University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, 2006 which prescribe that the cadre or unit for
determining reservation roster points should be ‘University/college’ and not “Department/
subject’.
The Hon’ble Allahabad High Court in its order of C.M.W.P.No.43260 of 2016 dated 07-04-
2017 quashed this Guideline. Implementation of these orders could lead to reduction in the posts
to be reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in
Universities. An Inter-Ministerial Committee was, therefore, constituted to examine the issue. On
the recommendations of the Inter- Ministerial Committee and after consulting the Law Ministry,
the UGC and the Ministry filed separate SLPs on 12-04-2018 and 16-04-2018 respectively before
the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.
Meanwhile, in view of the matter being sub-judice, directions were issued by the UGC to
the Higher Educational Institutions to postpone the recruitment process, if it is already underway.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court dismissed the SLPs of MHRD and UGC on 21.01.2019. A
review petition is being contemplated in the matter in consultation with the Attorney General of
India.
The detailed statement of vacant teaching posts in various Central Universities, under
purview of UGC, is at Annexure. Further, as per UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualification for
appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures
for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education 2018 , Universities are permitted to
appoint adjunct faculty. Moreover, Central Universities are adopting different
methods/processes to address the problem of faculty shortage which inter-alia, include hiring
ad-hoc faculty, guest faculty, contract faculty and re-employed in order to ensure that studies of
students are not adversely affected.