HC Orders Allahabad University to Look into Vacant Faculty Posts

The Allahabad High Court commanded the Union HRD ministry to adopt appropriate methods for filling the vacant faculty posts at Allahabad University (AU) such that no posts are filled through visiting guest lecturer but a timely selection process should take place for recruiting the faculties.

Rejecting the petition filed by Mahendra Shankar Singh, who is a guest lecturer in Geography department of the university, a division bench comprising justices D S Tripathi and AP Sahi gave these orders.

The petitioner told the court that the university was not paying him his salary since 2015 and asked for payment of dues apart from the regularisation of service with respect to vacant positions of faculty in his department.

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The court instructed the authorities of AU to pay the petitioner his remuneration and other dues within three days and let him continue as a visiting faculty for the current academic session.

Although, the court declined to issue any order on the prayer for regularisation of service looking on the laws governing part-time faculty members, clearly stating the time period for the guest lecturer and the conditions when a visiting faculty is to be appointed. Based on this, the court informed that a university is not allowed to let guest lecturers continue for an unlimited period of time on the ground that for a long period, no selection process for recruiting the teachers is been conducted.

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Allahabad University is a reputed centre of higher learning since pre-independence period and is also referred to "Oxford of the East". It was given the status of a central university through an act of Parliament in the year 2005.