The Patna High Court’s decision signals the resumption of assistant professor recruitment in Bihar’s state universities after a four-year pause.
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PATNA: Recently, The Patna High Court has approved the recruitment of assistant professors in state universities facing severe understaffing. Yet, the court has stipulated precise guidelines for the creation of a reservation roster specific to each university. This ruling follows a prolonged legal dispute spanning almost four years, which previously stalled the appointment process.
The two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Harish Kumar, stated-
“Combining vacancies across all universities for the reservation roster preparation, as directed by the single-judge bench, is now set aside. The process must be conducted separately, adhering to university-wise and subject-wise roster preparation.”
The order, which was passed on Thursday evening, emphasizes the need for subject-wise and university-wise determination of reservation quotas.
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The bench further noted-
“The single judge bench’s directive to reassess the reservation is maintained. However, considering the flawed determination of backlog vacancies as per the disputed advertisement, we instruct that it be conducted subject-wise and university-wise.”
The appointment process, which commenced in 2020, faced numerous legal challenges related to the prescribed limit for reservation and the identification of backlog vacancies. These challenges led to a prolonged delay in the recruitment process.
Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, the single-judge bench, had stayed the appointment of assistant professors by the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) in December 2022. The stay order was based on concerns regarding the reservation roster and the handling of backlog vacancies.
The BSUSC had advertised 4,638 vacancies for assistant professors across 52 subjects on 23rd September 2020, just before the announcement of the state assembly elections. Prior to the issuance of the stay order by the High Court, 461 candidates had already been appointed.
Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma had specifically stated that the individuals who were already appointed would not be affected by the reworking of the reservation and backlog vacancies. The single-judge bench had directed that these individuals would be adjusted against the appropriate backlog or reservation vacancies. The recent two-judge bench, while upholding the single judge’s decision, clarified that if the appointed individuals do not qualify under the new reservation roster, either on merit or in the reservation category, they would not be retained.
The Bihar legislative assembly passed the Bihar State University Service Commission Act in 2017, which aimed to restore the authority of the commission for recruitment purposes. The commission had been dissolved in 2007 but was reconstituted by the Bihar government in February 2019, before the Lok Sabha elections.
Girish Choudhary, Chairman of the BSUSC, expressed his satisfaction with the court’s order and stated that the appointment process would resume promptly.
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He said-
“The government appealed the initial decision, and we are glad the court upheld the argument that universities should not be grouped together. We have already revised the reservation roster accordingly and submitted it. Bihar is dealing with a significant shortage of teachers, in line with the New Education Policy (NEP), and the new appointments will ease some of this burden.”
