Move to appoint non-teaching staff in academic role opposed

Allegations baseless, says Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit

The inclusion of a proposal in the agenda of the Syndicate meet of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit on Wednesday to consider librarians having qualifications prescribed by the University Grants Commission as academic staff has come under criticism. Syndicate member P.C. Muraleemadhavan has alleged that the move is against the norms as it amounted to appointing a non-teaching staff in an academic role. This is part of the continuing efforts by the varsity authorities to accommodate a librarian, who is a leader of a Left organisation, in an academic role before his retirement on April 30, he said on Tuesday. Prof. Muraleemadhavan, who is also a member of the Syndicate sub-committee on academic affairs, stated that the proposal has not been placed before the committee. The varsity authorities were now trying to introduce a Department in Library Science to realise the appointment of the library staff, he said. He pointed out that the posts, if any, in this stream have to be notified as per the UGC rules. The scrutiny of applications has to be carried out and the selection process should be strictly based on the norms prescribed by the UGC. The varsity cannot bypass all these regulations by including it as an agenda in the Syndicate meet, he said.