File status report on steps taken to fill asst prof posts: HC to govt

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday asked the state government to file a status report by November 25 explaining its steps to fill the vacancies of the assistant professors in the state-run higher education institutions.

Justice Abdul Quddhose passed the direction on hearing a petition filed by V Selvaraj and others from The Nilgiris district. The petitioner sought an interim injunction directing the state to complete the selection process pursuant to notification dated Oct 4, 2019, issued by the Teachers’ Recruitment Board (TRB).

The petitioners further prayed for constitution of a separate board for conducting selection to the teaching posts viz., assistant professor in government higher education institutes like arts and science colleges, polytechnic colleges, engineering colleges, college of education colleges and universities.

According to the petitioners, the State has not conducted any selection for the post of assistant professor for the last 12 years in spite of over 9,000 vacancies in the sanctioned posts being managed by guest lecturers.

The petitioners informed that the TRB issued a notification in 2019 to fill 2,331 assistant professors’ posts. “We applied for the exam, but the notification was kept in abeyance without any progress,” they argued.

Recording the submissions, the judge directed the state to file a status report and posted the matter to November 25.