College governing bodies blamed for dubious tactics
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 12 2018:
Following the State Cabinet decision of March 28 to convert six Government aided Colleges into full fledged Government Colleges, many quarters have raised strong suspicion about the possibility of governing bodies of these colleges resorting to unethical means to appoint teachers on their own whims.
As per the Cabinet decision, six aided colleges of the State namely Birmangol College (Sawombung), Mayai Lambi College (Yumnam Huidrom), Kakching Khunou College, Liberal College (Luwangsangbam), Thambal Marik College (Oinam) and Standard College (Kongba) were given approval for conversion into full fledged Government Colleges.
The move came as recognition of the contribution made by the colleges in improving higher education in the State as well as the efforts of the teaching and non-teaching staff despite their meagre salaries.
On the other hand, it was also decided that four other colleges; Moreh College (Moreh), South East Manipur College (Komlathabi), SK Women College (Nambol) and Waikhom Mani Girls College would be converted to full fledged Government colleges after the completion of necessary verification works.
Apart from the Cabinet decision to convert the six colleges into full fledged Government colleges, no further orders have been issued by the State Government till date.
In the meantime, many quarters have raised strong suspicion that the governing bodies of these colleges have been resorting to unethical practices to appoint teachers of their choice.
According to information received from a reliable source, the governing bodies of the aided College are responsible for operating the institutions with the help of the grant-in-aid money sanctioned by the Government from time to time.
Explaining that the college governing body is responsible for appointing teaching and the non-teaching staff, the source claimed that there have been reports of unethical practices concerning one of the colleges, Thambal Marik College.
The source claimed that there are strong suspicions of the governing body appointing teachers to the said college through dubious means such as manipulation of dates of appointment.
The source explained that four teachers each were recently selected for two newly established departments of Thambal Marik College, namely Life Science Department and Computer Science Department.
However, there are reports that candidates who did not even meet the minimum qualification set by UGC were selected as teachers.
The source claimed that a candidate who did not come from any computer related field was selected as a teacher for Computer Science Department.
According to documents received by The Sangai Express, one candidate who did MBA course was appointed as a Computer Science Lecturer by the college governing body.
The documents mentioned that as per an order issued by the secretary of the college governing body, W David Singh on March 3 this year, the candidate was appointed as a Lecturer of Computer Science.
However, according to sources, the new teachers were appointed after the Cabinet passed its decision to convert the aided colleges to full fledged Government colleges.
In a shocking twist, the said MBA who was appointed as a Computer Science Lecturer was given a no objection certificate by the secretary of the governing body on April 21 so that he could pursue Master of Computer Application (MCA) in any university he desires.
The documents clearly showed that the process of appointing the teachers were manipulated.
The source mentioned that even though the teachers may have been appointed by the governing body using unethical means, the issue is a serious one and the candidates who allegedly do not even meet the minimum requirements of the UGC (55 percent in MA in the related subjects as well as a PhD or NET qualification) may find themselves in deep waters in the future.
On the other hand, questions are also being asked as to whether the governing bodies have been resorting to appointing non-teaching staff through the same process as well after the Cabinet decision.
It would be imperative for the State Government to look into the matter at the earliest and take up necessary actions, the source added.
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