SHILLONG: A person has accused the Geography Department, NEHU, of denying disclosure of information under Right to Information (RTI) Act for the post of Guest Faculty in the department.
The person, who filed query under RTI Act, spoke on anonymity and said the recent recruitment process for the post of Guest Faculty in the department, NEHU, stated that candidates with a PhD degree and candidates pursuing PhD were not considered for the post.
“Instead, a mere qualified candidate with only a Master’s Degree (NET) was appointed to teaching the postgraduate-pursuing students,” he said.
Also, in the recent advertisement for regular posts in NEHU, one of the rules stated that “mere fulfilment of essential qualifications will not entitle a candidate for being called for interview”.
Stating that an RTI was filed to get a reply on the matter, the person said that the department failed to reply to the questions raised in the RTI, adding that as per UGC Regulation, 2018, 30 marks is given to candidates having PhD and only 5 marks is given to NET-qualified candidates.
Besides, marks are also given for each publication and other experiences. NET is only one of the eligibility criteria, but it is not a degree and it is not a qualification higher than PhD or MPhil degree, the person said, adding “moreover, as per the advertisement dated 19th August 2019, one of the papers which has to be taught, is Research Methodology.”
“The question arises that then how can a candidate, who has not pursued research or does not have a PhDor MPhil degree, teach the said paper? Is this action by the selection committee a result of their inability to understand the conditions and requirements for the post or is it an act of blatant disregard of the same? Regardless, this brings attention to the continuing breakdown of professionalism, sadly, in one of the highest echelons of learning,” he said.
