NET qualified lecturers still on contract in govt colleges

As per documents with The Indian Express,the Shiv Sena¿BJP government on January 15,1998 issued a GR banning new appointments due to the weak financial condition of the state. However,when the Congress government came to power,it lifted the partial ban and introduced a contract system in new recruitments through a GR dated July 25,2002.

Following this GR,the higher education department published an advertisement for recruitment of lecturers in government colleges across the state. About 150 lecturers were appointed on a contract basis at Rs 8000 consolidated salary,supposed to be ended by 2004.

Later,in another GR dated January 7,2004,the government proposed the two years service period to be considered as probation. The GR clearly said that teachers appointed in non-government institutions should be absorbed in regular service and paid as per regular pay scales. However,the GR did not chart out any course of action for lecturers in government colleges. As a result of this,the posts of lecturers in government offices was not made permanent.

A delegation of lecturers met the then Higher Education Minister Suresh Jain several times and demanded the regularisation of their services. Jain attempted to change the contractual services of the lecturers to ad-hoc posts.

However,Suresh Jain was replaced by Deelip Walse Patil who handled the the education department alongwith the power ministry. A lecturer alleged that Patil was preoccupied with the power crisis in the state and as a result ignored the Higher Education Department.

NCP MP Supriya Sule,former party state chief Arun Gujrathi,former leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramdas Kadam and Gurunath Kulkarni were among the few prominent leaders who assured that the services of these lecturers would be regularised. A concrete decision is yet to come.