33.4% teaching & 37.7% non-teaching sanctioned positions in central universities lying vacant – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Fourteen of the 44 Central Universities, including the likes Delhi University, University of Allahabad, Central University of Kashmir, and Central University of Odisha have over 40% of their sanctioned teaching positions lying vacant. Two of which from Allahabad and Odisha have over 70% vacancies. Overall 33.4% of teaching positions and 37.7% of the non-teaching sanctioned positions in central universities are lying vacant as of April 1, 2021. There are also 22 central universities without permanent vice-chancellors, of which 12 the names have been finalised by the Visitor.

This was informed by union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a response to two written questions on the vacancy status at the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, where he said: “Arising of vacancies and filling up is a continuous process. The data with regard to posts lying vacant for more than three years, as of date, is not maintained, centrally.”

In response to the question on vacancies of vice-chancellors, Pradhan in a written reply said: “Total 22 posts of vice-chancellors in central universities under this ministry are vacant out of which appointments to 12 posts have already been finalized by the Visitor. The incidence and filling up of vacancies of vice-chancellors in Universities is a continuous process. The process of appointment of vice-chancellor in Central University is a time-consuming exercise which involves getting Executive Council/ Court’s nomination(s) of the concerned Central University, the constitution of Search-cum-Selection Committee, advertisement of posts, scrutiny of applications, interaction with the shortlisted candidates, getting vigilance clearances, approval of the competent authority, etc, hence, no time-frame can be indicated.”

As per the data given by the ministry of the 18,911 sanctioned teaching positions in the 45 central universities over 6,000 positions are lying vacant. In terms of numbers, DU has the highest number of vacancies with 846 of its sanctioned 1706 posts lying vacant. The other university with over 500 vacancies is the University of Allahabad which has 598 of its 863 teaching posts lying vacant. The data provided by the ministry is as of April 1, 2021.

The data also revealed that more than 50% or 23 of the 44 universities have vacancies to the tune of over 30% and there are just three universities with less than 20% vacancies.

For all the 44 central universities a total of 33.4% of the sanctioned teaching positions are lying vacant as of April 1, 2021.

The ministry also informed the house that of the 36,351 non-teaching positions over 13,700 positions are vacant in these institutions, which amounts to 37.7%.