Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 15: The discrimination with Jammu region has again come to fore as the Higher Education Department has applied two different yardsticks for the appointment of contractual lecturers in Kashmir Valley and Jammu region.
According to sources the Higher Education Department which has sought the applications for the contractual lecturers in various degree colleges of Jammu region vide their notification No 2014-15 dated 26-6-2014 in which the candidates with M Phil have not been considered eligible for the post of contractual lecturer in higher education.
In comparison to this a similar notification was issued in Kashmir Valley vide number 2014-15 dated 5-02-2014 in which candidates with M Phil Degree have not been barred from applying for the post of contractual lecturer, sources added.
Sources said that such a decision on the part of Higher Education authorities has generated a lot of resentment among the scholars in the region who termed the decision as discriminatory in nature and against the basic tenets of justice.
Sources said when the State of J&K is one, why two yard sticks are applied for the appointment of contractual lecturers in two different regions of the State and why the people of the two regions are treated differently?
As per the two separate notifications issued by Higher Education Department for Kashmir Valley a candidate either with M Phil, PhD, NET or SLET can apply for the posts of contractual lecturer or teaching assistants while in Jammu region for the appointment of contractual lecturers M Phil candidates are not eligible for the post.
Sources said in case of Jammu a candidate who has either qualified NET or SLET or who is with PhD can apply for the post of contractual lecturer. The candidates with M Phil Degree can only apply for the post of teaching assistants while in normal course a Post Graduate candidate can apply for this post on contractual basis.
The decision of Government has disappointed hundreds of candidates of Jammu region possessing the MPhil degrees and they have sought immediate intervention of the Chief Minister in the matter. They said the decision is highly discriminatory and disgraceful to them.
These candidates have asked the State Government to clarify its position on the issue that why two separate yardsticks are applied for the students of the two regions?
They said that keeping the M Phil students with PG students the Government has degraded their degree.
However, clarifying the decision, a spokesman of Higher Education said that the advertisement in Kashmir was made as per the previous guidelines and notification of SRO 423 of 2008 in which a candidate possessing either NET, SLET, M Phil and PhD can apply for the post of college lecturer. But later the notification was issued in 2014-15 in accordance to UGC guildelines which debars a candidate with M Phil Degree from applying for the post of college lecturer.
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