NLU Jodhpur violates UGC guidelines, has only contractual teachers: SC calls it unacceptable

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today observed that the National Law University, Jodhpur is functioning only with contractual teachers. "To say the least, this is unacceptable and undesirable", the court said, as per the Live Law report.

As per the UGC guidelines, appointment of contract teachers should not exceed 10% of the total number of faculty positions in the university. The statutory body in April this year clarified that it has not dropped the provision in Autonomous Colleges Regulations of 2018 to limit contractual staff to 10% of total faculty strength.

“NLU's regulations were recently amended to provide for 50% permanent staff and 50% contractual teachers,” the report said. However, the bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia observed that NLU Jodhpur has not followed any of the guidelines for the teachers recruitment.

The law university did not have a vice-chancellor and the registrar was also appointed on contract basis.

"The point, however, remains that these are supposed to be institutions of excellence and you cannot expect excellence in institutions where there is constant inflow and outflow of teaching staff because they are contractual in character. It is time to remedy the position", the court said, as per the report.

The Supreme Court said that the matter will be next heard on October 31 and asked the University's counsel Senior Advocate Dhruv Mehta to appropriately advise the NLU.