Teachers go to VC as DU marks many quota candidates ‘unsuitable’ for faculty

New Delhi: A section of teachers has written to the Delhi University vice-chancellor, condemning the increasing number of cases where candidates from reserved categories are deemed "not suitable" for teaching posts. The university has maintained that "suitable candidates were recruited and that certain cases did not indicate a lack of recruitment under reserved categories".The teachers have claimed that ‘not found suitable’ (NFS) was being “used as a tool by the university to deny posts in reserved categories” and that the selection criteria were engineered in such a way that seats remain vacant. “If you see the number of appointments made for the posts of associate professor and professor reported at the Executive Council (EC) meeting on March 8, they show how badly the university has done in filling reserved posts. Even where candidates were available and shortlisted for interviews, appointments were not made. The seats remain unfilled,” said Abha Dev Habib, secretary, Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF).However, DU said they recruited whoever they found suitable for the posts. “In the earlier cycle, we recruited over 1,000 candidates in the SC/ST category alone. Almost as many were also recruited for the OBC category in various colleges and departments. Only candidates that were not found suitable for the positions were placed under NFS,” said a senior DU official.He added, “This is a continuous process. We have certain recruitment criteria, and we follow them diligently. If we didn’t find anyone suitable for some posts in certain departments, it does not indicate that we are denying posts or that recruitments are not happening.”Among candidates for teaching posts under the reserved category, the university placed 44% under the NFS category, and only 29% were appointed, teachers claim. For interviews too, which were held after the university insisted on publications being on the UGC CARE list or SCOPUS indexed, the failure rate has increased.“This makes us wonder if they want to fulfill the reservation policy at all. For instance, for an old and well-established history department, they did not find a single suitable candidate. They seem to have a selection and screening process even more stringent than UGC is demanding. There are some filters or biases, perhaps, in place that are not visible,” Habib said.The teachers have demanded a comprehensive report and want it to be taken up for discussion in the Academic Council. They have also said that DU must review the revised criteria adopted for shortlisting as they fear it would lead to a further increase in NFS cases and deny otherwise suitable and eligible candidates from appearing before selection committees.
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