New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the Odisha Government and Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) to abide by the Supreme Court order on recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in universities.
UGC Secretary Rajnish Jain has written letters to the Higher Education Department Secretary and OPSC Secretary in this regard.
The Supreme Court of India (SC) on April 20 issued a stay order on the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020, which was enacted in September 2020.
The court stayed recruitment process in State universities for the next three months after hearing a petition filed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and retired professor of JNU Ajit Kumar Mohanty.
The petitioners have opposed the act through which the State Government wanted to regulate the appointment of teachers and other staff through the OPSC, which is against the norms set by the UGC.
The court sought a reply from the Odisha Government and set the date for the next hearing on the matter after two months.
However, it has come to the notice of the UGC that, despite the stay granted by the Supreme Court, the OPSC, which is a party in the case, is continuing to undertake recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor (Sociology) and Assistant Professor (Commerce) pursuant to an advertisement no. 08 of 2020- 21.
“Since the recruitment of teachers /faculty by the OPSC, and that of non-teaching staff by the State Selection Board (SSB), is directly in issue in the aforesaid SLPs pending before the SC, the continuation of the recruitment process will be in the teeth of the stay order dated 20.05.2022 granted by the Court,” UGC Secretary said in his letters.
Accordingly, the UGC has asked the Government of Odisha to kindly take note of the Supreme Court’s order and refrain from undertaking any further step(s) for any recruitment of teachers/faculty and non-teaching staff, including in terms of advertisement no. 08 of 2O20-2I and/or the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act (2020).
The court’s stay order also applies with respect to any recruitment process that commenced prior to the said stay order. The UGC also reserves all its rights to take appropriate legal remedy in this regard, warned the Secretary.