Patna varsity to review teacher's promotion

PATNA: Acting on a recent directive of governor-cum-chancellor Ram Nath Kovind, the Patna University (PU) has decided to rescreen the cases of promotions granted to more than 120 teachers, many of whom have either retired from service or are dead. The chancellor has directed the university to implement the orders of Patna high court passed in August 2006 and June 2010 regarding teachers' promotion in letter and spirit.
However, before undertaking the exercise of rescreening of promotion cases, the university will hear all the petitioners, about 10 in number, on November 21. PU vice-chancellor Y C Simhadri will hear the arguments put forward with regard to their claim for promotion individually. The high court, in its orders, had asked the university to rescreen their promotion cases after giving the teachers an opportunity to be heard. The petitioners include Nihar Nandan Prasad Singh, Ajay Kumar Singh, Kameshwar Prasad, Ashok Kumar Gupta and Tara Sinha (all retired).
As many as 124 teachers were provisionally promoted as professors on the recommendation of the screening committee in June 2005.
However, these promotions were challenged by some university teachers in the high court which set aside the PU notification regarding promotions in August 2006 on the ground that the screening committee was not properly constituted. The court had remitted the matter to the university for reconsideration of the case through properly constituted screening committee.
Later, in an LPA filed by the affected teachers, the division bench of Patna high court, in its judgment delivered in June, 2010, upheld the order of the single bench and directed the PU to carry out the earlier order within four months. But, the orders of the court have not been implemented so far.
The issue was raised recently by PU English department head and Bihar Public Service Commission former member Shiv Jatan Thakur at the annual meeting of the PU senate. When the PU authorities did not take any cognizance of his complaint, he wrote to the chancellor and the chief minister. The chief minister had also asked the education department to get the matter examined by the competent authority.
PU registrar Sanjay Kumar Sinha said the university would start the screening of promotion cases soon after hearing the petitioners.