The Nagaland NET Qualified Forum (NNQF) has made an appeal to the Governor of Nagaland, La Ganesan, to halt the regularization of contractual assistant professors in the Department of Higher Education as informed by the Department via a notification dated 18th December 2024. The Forum has claimed that the contractual assistant professors comprised of candidates that do not have the requisite qualification (NET/PhD) and were not recruited through the Common Educational Services Examination (CESE) held under the purview of the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC).
“Any recruitment for a regularised post that does not go through this process violates the fundamental right to equal opportunity,” it stated.
In the open letter to the Governor, the NNQF mentioned it has filed a case in the court (The Nagaland NET Qualified Forum members Vs the State of Nagaland-Case no.: WP(C) 340/2022 and WP (C) 188-198, 208 /2023) against the backdoor/irregular/contractual appointments in the various departments of Higher Education.
The Forum also mentioned that subsequent to the discussion on the matter of regularization of 154 contractual assistant professors in the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly, it had submitted a representation to the Minister of Higher Education, Temjen Imna Along, on the 23rdSeptember 2022, where it appealed the Minister to withhold the process. It was also pointed out that any regularization would be viewed as against the interim of the writ petitions amounting to contempt of court.
The same appeal was made by the NNQF and the CTAN on October 9th 2024 and 19th December, 2024, to the concerned authorities and in the local dailies, it added.
However, much to our dismay, a recent notification, NO. THE/HE/134-3/2020 (Pt-11) dated 18th December 2024, has surfaced indicating the absorption of the contractual assistant professors in the Higher Education Department, the Forum stated.
The Nagaland NET Qualified Forum (NNQF) has said that it is “unfair that some candidates have to go through a rigorous screening based on written exam, their academic history, and an interview with a panel of experts; while some people get regularized on some other basis.” It also leaves room for further such bending of rules in the future with the possibility of manipulation, it added
It also raised concerns of aspirants or candidates of becoming overage while waiting for advertisements. “This is something that aspirants in the past have experienced and aspirants of today are apprehensive of,” it said. Therefore, the NNQF stated its support for age condonation/relaxation for the contractual employees “so that they can also take part in the right to equal opportunity and an open-fair competition through direct recruitment, NPSC, CESE, along with all other aspirants.”
