Tamil Nadu govt mulls moving appointment of university non-teaching staff to TNPSC

In a bid to curb irregularities, the State government is planning to appoint non-teaching staff in universities through Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC). As the first step, all 14 State-run institutions have been asked to furnish details about existing vacancies, said official sources.

At present, State-run universities are allowed to recruit non-teaching staff on their own based on the existing vacancies. The non-teaching staff posts include clerks, data entry operators, accounts assistants, personal assistants, public relation officers, section officers, assistant registrars among others.

However, there are several complaints that many institutions are taking whimsical decisions during recruitment due to the lack of proper audit to scrutinise appointment of non-teaching employees.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department told DT Next on condition of anonymity that there were several complaints alleging that the universities were not following reservation policy or insisting on necessary qualifications while recruiting non-teaching staff.

“Therefore, in order to be transparent in the appointment of non-teaching staff, the Higher Education Department authorities are considering handing over the whole recruiting process to TNPSC,” the official said. He added that all 14 State-run universities in Tamil Nadu were instructed to submit the details of existing vacant posts of non-teaching staff.

Explaining the advantage of recruitment through the commission, he said the recruiting agency would ensure that only those who meet the required qualification would be appointed to various posts.

“There will not be any disparity in the fixation of salary, which it will be done as per the rule for all the staff. Also, there will be audits for each institution every year to find out whether there are any anomalies in disbursing salaries, especially to non-teaching staff,” said the official.

Once it is handed over to TNPSC, the process to recruit non-teaching staff in the universities would be the same as appointing employees in other government departments. However, the official made it clear that the appointment of faculty members, including assistant professors in universities, would be done only by the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board.