Supreme Court declares hiring only contractual staff in Universities as "undesirable"

The Supreme Court had declared that educational institutions operating on only contractual staff is unacceptable and undesirable as per IANS.

Justices SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, said that the matter is very concerning as for institutions to excel, there must not be a constant inflow and outflow of teaching staff because they are hired on a contract basis, as it can have a negative impact on the students and their process of learning.

What was further discovered?

The Bench also was surprised after discovering that National Law University in Jodhpur employed teaching staff solely on a contractual basis when the University Grants Commission Regulations had already prescribed that contractual staff in higher education institutions in any case should not exceed 10 per cent of the total strength.

The National Law University was notified by the Supreme Court to immediately "remedy the position" when it was apprised that the recent amendments, which are yet to be implemented, proposed only for 50 per cent of permanent staff.

The top court of the country said that it is a matter of great concern that a law university operating nationally and are the bearers of excellent legal education in India, should only operate with contractual teachers.

A contention was raised by the university saying that they were not an aided university which displayed the bench.

“We would like an educational institution to remedy the position itself rather than being called upon to remedy the position,” it told the law university.

The Supreme Court further noted that the position of vice-chancellor in the university is null at present and the registrar is also stated to be contractual. It posted the matter for passing directions on October 31.