High Court issues notices to respondents in writ petition challenging recruitment process at Sikkim University

GANGTOK, 02 Apr: The High Court of Sikkim has issued notices to the Sikkim University and other respondents named in a writ petition challenging the recruitment process at the university initiated by the Vice Chancellor, an issue which has courted much controversy of late.
In the first hearing today, counsel for the petitioner, DR Thapa, submitted before the Single Bench comprising of Chief Justice, P Kohli, that the entire process of recruitment of faculty and teaching staff at the University was illegal and arbitrary. The petitioner, Rajendra Prasad, an Assistant Professor on contract with the University, was not retained, and as per the submission before the Court by his counsel, was not even informed of his non-selection in the recruitment process.
Interestingly, Mr. Prasad had originally petitioned the Executive Council of the University with his complaint against the VC and contending that prescribed processes for recruitment which would have ensured fairness and transparency had been ignored.
The main contention of the petitioner is that the VC initiated the recruitment process when neither the Executive Council nor the Academic Council were in office. The recruitment process is recommended to be conducted under their guidance with the selection panels going through two levels of screening – from the Academic Council to the Executive Council which finalises the interview panels. In finalizing the recruitment process, including the interview panels, the VC invoked emergency powers [by taking on the responsibility of the EC], which, in as far as routine processes such as recruitments are concerned, the Union Ministry of Human Resources has specifically forbidden through an Office Order of 2001.
The Chief Justice, after making some observations and seeking details on some points, directed that notices be issued to the respondents.
Made respondents in the petition are the Sikkim University Vice Chancellor, Professor MP Lama; Registrar, Sikkim University; the University Grants Commission (UGC); and the State government.
It may be recalled that last week, an organization called Sikkim Sachet Swarozgar Berozgar Sangathan had filed a public interest litigation against the University along similar lines and raising several other issues related to the recruitment process for non-teaching and non-executive posts as well. The hearing on the PIL has been adjourned to a later date. Recently, there had also been picketing against the recruitment process by various groups, including the affected landowners of the SU campus to come up in Yangang and disgruntled youth who claimed that they were job applicants who had not been informed about the written exam and the interview later.