Sir,
This is about the recruitment of Assistant Professors for the Higher Education Department in 2014 under the Notification No: 12-PSC (DR-P) of 2014, Dated: 29 .05. 2014.
The eligibility criteria were set according to the rules set by UGC Minimum Standard Procedures (MSP) 2009. The said rules deprived the candidates having acquired PhD degrees, prior to June 2009, from getting shortlisted for the interview as they did not follow the UGC-MSP-2009 during their PhD. The JKPSC halted the recruitment process at the behest of University of Kashmir and University of Jammu and waited for the new amendment in the UGC regulations vis-a-vis the eligibility criteria for the posts in higher education. The recruitment process was commenced only after the amendment in the UGC rules published on 11th July, 2016 and described as University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) (4th Amendment), Regulations, 2016 [No.F.1-2/2016(PS/Amendment)]. This 4th amendment in the rules sanctioned a respite to the candidates having registered for the Ph.D programme prior to July 11, 2009.
The problem that followed was the application of UGC amendment 2016 on the advertisement dating back to 2014. The reason was that the UGC amendment 2016 clearly stated that “They shall come into force with immediate effect from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette”. However, JKPSC applied the 2016 amendment of UGC rules with retrospective effect, and asked the aspirants to come up with certificates as per UGC Regulations 2009 and UGC Regulations, 2016 whichever is applicable.
The candidates wrote to UGC asking if the PSC has a right to give retrospective effect to the UGC amendment that calls for an immediate effect. The UGC responded on 30 August 2016, vide notice no. D.O.No.F. 1 -1 221201 6(VlP/PS) dated 30 August, 2016 that, “the appointments shall be governed by the UGC Regulations 2010 along with their Amendments notified at the time of ISSUANCE of the advertisement and subject to the many conditions: which included that ‘Due selection criteria / process as prescribed in the UGC Regulations and their Amendments, in operation on the date of advertisement, was followed. No modification was made subsequently in the original advertisement”.
UGC was very clear that only those amendments will apply on an advertisement that was issued at the time of advertisements and not those issued thereafter. In the light of this clarification, JKPSC can not apply UGC amendments, 2016 on the earlier advertisement of 2014 especially when there have no changes in the advertisement to incorporate the amendments’ 2016.
The issue was raised with the Chairman JKPSC, Lateef ul Zaman Deva, who sought to discuss the matter with urgency, but to no conclusion till date.
Yours etc….
Dr Mohamad Yousf,
PhD Student
Department of Chemistry University of Kashmir
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