Row over ‘hasty’ assistant professor appointments by TN government

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin issuing appointment orders to just 11 selected assistant professors in five subjects on Friday has not gone down well with 42,000-strong pool of candidates who appeared for recruitment exams in December 2025.

Raising concerns about the transparency and fairness in the recruitment process, the aspirants alleged the appointments were made hastily in view of the upcoming election. “The government has made the appointments now in order to earn brownie points for the ruling party,” said a candidate.

The aspirants said interviews for History Education, Human Rights, Indian Culture and Tourism, Marine Biology, and Wildlife Biology subjects, which was initially scheduled for March 22 and 23, were preponed, and were conducted earlier this week.

Of the total 2,708 vacancies advertised for 48 subjects, a vast majority of candidates who wrote the exam at 195 centres are yet to get the call.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu All Government College UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers Association has raised concerns about the impact on seniority of the existing faculty, saying the appointment of the selected 11 candidates could delay the process for others, permanently affecting their position in the queue.

With an appeal related to the recruitment process pending in court, the selective issuance of appointment letters has also raised questions about the process’s legality. “We demand that the appointment orders be cancelled immediately and the results for all subjects be announced at one go,” said V Thangaraj, state president of the association.

Meanwhile, the Teachers Recruitment Board, which conducted the recruitment process, justified the issuance of appointment orders. A TRB official said, “We have already announced that results of the various subjects will only be announced in a phased manner.”

This story has been written by Binita Jaiswal of The New Indian Express.