Governor Phagu Chouhan On Monday gave his nod to the statute for the appointment of assistant professors of Bihar prepared by the statute committee comprising three vice-chancellors. The opinion of all the VCs and the state government had been earlier sought on the draft statute.
This clears the decks for the recruitment of assistant professors through the Bihar state university service commission in the seriously understaffed state universities, which are working at less than 50% of the sanctioned strength at present. The appointments will be made through all-India advertisements on the basis of guidelines laid down by the UGC and accepted/modified by the Bihar government.
However, a senior commission functionary said, so far the commission has not received the details of vacancies from the universities. A couple of years ago, the vacancies were estimated to be over 8000 and it was also announced in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Now, after rationalisation, it could be around 5000, though the exact figure with application of reservation roster still remains unknown.
Bihar legislature had passed the Bihar state university service commission Act in 2017 to vest the power of recruitment back in the commission, which was earlier dissolved in 2007. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Bihar government had constituted the commission in February 2019, with Dr. Rajvardhan Azad, former chief, and professor of ophthalmology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, as the chairman.
It may be a sheer coincidence that the statute has been cleared just ahead of the assembly elections. However, it has quite a few changes from the statute framed for the appointment of assistant professors through the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) in 2015.
Now. the candidates having completed Ph.D. will get 30 marks, while those having qualified national eligibility test (NET) with junior research fellowship (JRF) will get seven points and those with just NET will get five points. Candidates having cleared M.Phil with 60% marks or above will get seven points. If a candidate has done both M.Phil and Ph. D, he or she will be entitled to a maximum of 30 marks. There will be 10 marks awarded for research papers (two marks each for the research publications published in peer-reviewed journals or UGC-Care/ Scopus journals). For teaching or post-doctoral experience, there will be two marks awarded for each year to a maximum of 10 marks.
The merit list of successful candidates will be made on the basis of performance in both academic qualifications (100 marks) and interview (15 marks). The reservation roster of the Bihar government will be applicable. If candidates score equal aggregate (academic qualification and interview), one having a higher score in education qualification or older age will be through.
