Odisha govt cracks down on irregular university appointments

Bhubaneswar: The higher education department has issued a stern directive to all state public universities, warning against irregular appointments and engagements made without govt approval.Commissioner-cum-secretary Aravind Agrawal on Thursday wrote to the vice-chancellors of all public universities under the department’s administration, stating that it has come to the department’s notice that several universities have been appointing personnel against both sanctioned and non-sanctioned posts without prior clearance from the govt. These unauthorised appointments have triggered claims for regularisation, leading to legal disputes and financial strain on the state exchequer.Section 22 of the Orissa Universities Act, 1989, mandates that all posts in public universities must be sanctioned by the govt and filled strictly through prescribed statutory procedures. Any deviation, the department warned, is legally invalid.“Any appointment or engagement made without sanction of posts and without adherence to such procedures is a violation of the Act and therefore lacks legal validity,” Agrawal said. He added that responsibility for such irregular appointments or engagements will be fixed, and officials found responsible for such irregularities will face disciplinary action under service rules.In the letter, he pointed out that since 2011, the state govt has conducted multiple open recruitment drives for non-teaching positions. Attempts by certain incumbents to bypass these competitive processes and seek regularisation would amount to “back-door entry”, as it undermines fairness and transparency in public employment.Granting regularisation in such cases would unfairly disadvantage meritorious candidates who have pursued public employment through lawful and competitive selection processes, the letter stated.The department made it clear that claims for regularisation of personnel engaged without approval will not be entertained. Furthermore, any financial liabilities arising from such appointments must be borne by the respective universities themselves.Universities have been instructed to strictly adhere to statutory provisions to avoid future legal and financial complications.