The student wing of the Congress demanded that the entire process be restarted; the NSUI had previously claimed that BJP members had rigged the appointment of teaching assistants.
Following allegations of favouritism in the recruitment of teaching assistants at Gujarat’s Saurashtra University (SU), officials have decided to restart the process, officials said on Sunday, a day after the NSUI claimed that BJP members of the SU syndicate had created a social media group to recommend candidates for their contractual recruitment.
The Congress’s student wing demanded on Saturday that the entire process be rerun and that everything be video recorded. 23 names were allegedly mentioned in a WhatsApp group of BJP members of the Saurashtra University syndicate as candidates recommended for the final recruitment as contractual teachers, for which the varsity had recently begun the process. Candidates’ interviews are expected to begin soon, according to the National Students Union of India (NSUI). On Sunday, Vice-Chancellor NM Pethani said, “We have decided to conduct the recruitment process anew.”
Between September 29 and October 12, he said, an open interview process of eligible candidates was conducted to shortlist 78 successful candidates. However, in light of the recent controversy surrounding the alleged WhatsApp group, the university has decided to repeat the process. Pethani had stated that he had received no recommendations for the teaching assistants.
Gujarat Education Minister Jitu Vaghani responded to the controversy by stating that the entire process will be “transparent” and that selection will be based on merit. No candidate will be treated unfairly, he stated. “After learning about the controversy surrounding the Saurashtra University’s contractual recruitment, I called the vice-chancellor. I’ve told him to conduct the entire process in complete transparency and on the basis of merit, and to make sure no candidate is treated unfairly. The Additional Secretary of the Department of Education has also been directed to take action “He sent out a tweet.
