DU prohibits guest faculty appointment without leave vacancy; teachers demand withdrawal of order

NEW DELHI: The University of Delhi today directed the heads of its colleges and departments to appoint guest faculties only in case of a leave vacancy. The university asked all DU colleges to make the appointment if a permanent faculty has taken leave like maternity leave, child care leave, study leave, sabbatical leave, medical leave or extra ordinary leave.

"All the principal(s), director(s) of University Colleges and Institutions are requested to ensure that under no circumstances appointment of guest faculty shall be made except against the leave vacancy...," Delhi University deputy registrar (colleges) said in the official order.

The university instructed colleges to advertise all vacant positions immediately and expedite the selection by following due processes and procedures laid down in the guidelines.

"It has been observed that a few number of colleges are sending requests to the University for providing panel of experts to be associated with the Selection Committee for making appointment of Guest faculty. Your attention is invited to the University's letter dated 27.06.2024 wherein directives have been issued to fill up the vacant sanctioned teaching posts on regular basis after following due processes and procedures envisaged under Ordinances of the University...," the order read directing compliance.

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DU teachers oppose guest faculty appointment order

However, the decision was not well received by the DU faculty. The Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF) in a letter addressed to the DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh, has urged to immediately withdraw the order pertaining to the appointment of guest faculty.

“This letter, in a way, is directing teachers to assimilate extra hours required owing to workload calculations based on the norms notified by the University. Thus, not only teachers will have to teach beyond the direct hours stipulated by the UGC Regulations 2018 but also that number of hours may vary from department to department in a college. The DU Notification is thus redefining the service conditions of Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors unless it is to be interpreted that classes may remain unmet,” the teachers said.

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UGC guidelines

The UGC guidelines for appointment of guest faculty states: “The Guest Faculty be appointed only against sanctioned posts. However, for the universities where the sanctioned posts are not adequate as per the teaching load, the number of Guest Faculty to be appointed can be to 20% over and above the sanctioned posts.”

Further, the DU teachers stated that the guidelines mandates that temporary appointments should be allowed in the case of long leaves. As per the EC Resolution 2007 (which has not been repealed), ad-hoc appointment may be made against full-time sanctioned posts.

Clause II (i): In case there is a sudden, unexpected and short vacancy, arising out of a sudden sickness or death, on medical grounds (including maternity leave), abrupt leave or any other situation that may disrupt the normal process of teaching-learning, an ad hoc appointment may be made.

Clause II (iii): The ad hoc appointment should not be made where the vacancy arises for a period of less than one month.

“In issuing this letter mindlessly, the University has forgotten that the Colleges and Departments are running on the number of sanctioned posts which take care of the OBC expansion alone. No posts have been sanctioned against the 25% EWS Expansion which was implemented from the academic year 2019 and was completed by 2020-21,” the teachers wrote in the letter.