A candidate was selected after interviews on March 24 this year, after the university issued an advertisement which violated rules and contained many contradictions. However, though the errors were brought to the authorities' attention well ahead of the interview, no action was taken. Now, the appointment is scheduled to be ratified by the Management Council on April 12.

The advertisement, which was issued in October 1998, mentioned, among other things, that the candidate would be appointed on contract for five years and would get retirement benefits. This, the assistant registrar (finance and accounts) pointed out in a letter to the finance and accounts officer in November 1998, is a contradiction in terms as persons appointed on contract cannot be givenretirement benefits. Therefore, specific provisions for payment of terminal benefits would have to be made in a contract between the candidate and the university, the letter pointed out.

Besides, the letter added, pension could not be offered unless an employee put in a minimum of 10 years of service whereas the IDE director's post carries a five-year tenure.

The letter stated that stipulation of a minimum age limit of 45 years meant that if a candidate of 45-plus age was selected, the person would still have a few years of service left before retirement. However, college managements usually do not grant a lien for five years at a stretch, the letter said. Therefore, the candidate, after completing the five-year tenure as IDE director may not be accepted back by his/her college management.

After receiving the letter, the finance and accounts officer noted the points raised by the official ``require special consideration as they are very vital and important and as they have not been considered whilegiving the advertisement.''

Apart from these contradictions, the qualifications and terms and conditions sought by the advertisement are discrepant with the resolutions passed by the university's Academic Council and Executive Council (now Management Council) in December 1987, regarding criteria for the IDE director's post.

These resolutions, among other things, state that the director should be appointed on probation for a period of two years and have a minimum of two years experience in the field of distance education.

Curiously though, university officials are unclear about the status of these resolutions. Though the resolutions were passed, it is not known if these were converted into ordinances and forwarded to the chancellor for approval. University officials are also not sure whether the resolutions passed in 1987 stand now, resulting in advertisements for the post being issued on an ad-hoc basis. The present advertisement is only the second one issued by the university after the IDE was set upin 1993.

The university's Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Naresh Chandra said: ``I have to check about the ordinances.'' The present advertisement was issued in keeping with the ones released in earlier years, he said, adding the terms mentioned this time were the same as in the advertisement issued earlier, when M S Kambli was appointed director.