Research Scholars’ Forum stresses upon reserving jobs for residents of Ladakh
Leh: Ladakh Research Scholars’ Forum (LRSF) invited suggestions and opinions from its members wherein a number of issues related to the recent transfer of 77 Gazetted teaching posts by the Higher education department UT Ladakh to the University of Ladakh for making rules and advertisement.
In their suggestion and opinions the members of LRSF have raised concerns over the recruitment mechanism of Higher Education UT Ladakh and University of Ladakh.
According to a notification; 77 vacant Gazetted posts comprising Assistant Professor (Academic), Librarian (academic) and PTI (academic) of constituent Colleges of Ladakh were transferred to University of Ladakh.
Taking into the consideration the aforementioned posts, the LRSF has cited the concerns.
The Forum urged that the posts should be advertised and recruited by Higher Education Department UT Ladakh through a Public Service Commission, and not by the University of Ladakh. The members have suggested taking the case study of the states of Haryana and Punjab for reference.
The recruitment of Assistant Professor in Higher Education Department of Jammu and Kashmir invites restricted applications from only ‘Domicile of Jammu and Kashmir.’ The LRSF members suggests that Ladakh Residence Certificate (LRC) should be extended to all entry-level Gazetted posts, such as Assistant Professor(s) and Assistant Registrar of University of Ladakh and Higher Education Department UT Ladakh, the members of the Forum said.
Further, the same eligibility criterion must be extended for the appointment of contractual Assistant Professor in University of Ladakh and its constituent colleges.
LRSF demanded that the roles, responsibilities, power, functions, and limitations of Higher Education Department UT Ladakh and University of Ladakh should be well-defined to avoid confusion and increase efficiencies.
Furthermore, the members have called for transparency in the recruitment process in the University of Ladakh.
As per the reports, the University of Ladakh advertised vacancies for Associate Professor, but the list of shortlisted candidates and proposed date of interview has not been uploaded anywhere for general information. The LRSF believes that this hesitancy raises questions on the University’s transparency.
Questions were also raised over the constitution of the screening committee members, which appears to have been done in a dubious manner. Similar concerns were also raised during the appointment of the former Registrar, Dr. Manish Dev Sharma.
The LRSF hoped that the concerned authorities will take due cognizance of the cited concerns, and injustices will be redressed at the earliest.
“We hope that due processes are followed by the University in its functioning and we expect those at the helm of affairs would keep vigil over the functioning as the University is still in a very nascent stage and decisions taken today can have its impact for a very long time,” the Forum members added.
