Early June, two girls from the ST community wrote a letter to Goa University requesting for justice, after the post of assistant professor reserved for ST community was offered to an ST candidate from outside the state. Four months later they have received no response from the university. Another candidate also complained that the post of professor reserved for the OBC community was offered to an OBC candidate from outside the state.
Many active citizens have been taking up the matter. In a recent reply to one of the complainants, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has stated that the commission has decided to investigate into the matter and has asked the Secretary, Education to submit the facts and information on the action taken on the allegation within 30 days of receipt of this notice. Indicating that they intend to take the matter seriously, the letter further states that in case the commission doesn’t receive a reply within the stipulated time, the commission may exercise power of civil court and issue summons for their appearance before it.
It was only after receiving the complaints and when the media began reporting on the issue that the members at a special executive council meeting in June said the issue was a “serious matter” which warranted “quick action”. But they feigned ignorance on the fact that the list of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes is state specific.
In the same meeting the members resolved to withdraw the offer of appointment made to Dr Cheithou Charles Yuhlung, an ST candidate from Meghalaya for the post of assistant professor in sociology and to Dr Saravanan K Palanisamy, an OBC candidate from Tamil Nadu for the post of professor in management studies.
What is difficult to digest is the fact that the discrepancy was pointed out well in advance of the offers of appointment made and the university went ahead with the appointments anyway. In documents obtained under RTI a note on one of the candidate’s application clearly states ‘Eligible under general category, OBC not from Goa’. The letters go to the extent of offering the candidates permanent posts on probation basis when in fact the university’s own
advertisement states that “the university reserves the right to appoint the candidate from the general category purely on contract basis in case a suitable candidate is not available from the reserved categories.”
In an open letter on the recruitments written by a number of individuals, they ask for a judicial inquiry to be conducted to investigate and fix responsibility for the deliberate attempt to sabotage the rights of the SC/ST/OBC.
The open letter also points to the large number of backlogs in the reserved categories yet to be filled and asks that the university first fill these backlogs.
Their letter also states that representatives from these communities required to be present during the interviews were not present. Another grouse the candidates have is that the head of the ST/SC cell is not a representative from their community. Professor N S Bhat headed the cell. He was relieved and on September 24 Sanjyot D Pai Vernerar was appointed. Amita Kanekar one of the one of the petitioners says it is the indifference and casualness of the university that needs to change. “The negligence was intentional and the university thought the people from this community to be ignorant and thought they would easily digest the injustice.”
Another person who signed the letter said the matter was being handled in a very high handed manner with high level caste based politics at play.
When Herald Review asked Vice Chancellor Satish Shetye for his reaction to the issues raised in this matter he said: “We contacted our legal advisor when objections were raised and when they told us that there seems to be something wrong here we immediately acted upon it.”
He says he is still trying to understand what further objections are being raised in the open letter. “These are conspiracy theories. We’ve done everything according to the roster. Before advertising we consulted the government and went ahead only after their approval. What are these backlogs they are talking about? They are not clear to me.”
Early June, two girls from the ST community wrote a letter to Goa University requesting for justice, after the post of assistant professor reserved for ST community was offered to an ST candidate from outside the state. Four months later they have received no response from the university. Another candidate also complained that the post of professor reserved for the OBC community was offered to an OBC candidate from outside the state.
Many active citizens have been taking up the matter. In a recent reply to one of the complainants, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has stated that the commission has decided to investigate into the matter and has asked the Secretary, Education to submit the facts and information on the action taken on the allegation within 30 days of receipt of this notice. Indicating that they intend to take the matter seriously, the letter further states that in case the commission doesn’t receive a reply within the stipulated time, the commission may exercise power of civil court and issue summons for their appearance before it.
It was only after receiving the complaints and when the media began reporting on the issue that the members at a special executive council meeting in June said the issue was a “serious matter” which warranted “quick action”. But they feigned ignorance on the fact that the list of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes is state specific.
In the same meeting the members resolved to withdraw the offer of appointment made to Dr Cheithou Charles Yuhlung, an ST candidate from Meghalaya for the post of assistant professor in sociology and to Dr Saravanan K Palanisamy, an OBC candidate from Tamil Nadu for the post of professor in management studies.
What is difficult to digest is the fact that the discrepancy was pointed out well in advance of the offers of appointment made and the university went ahead with the appointments anyway. In documents obtained under RTI a note on one of the candidate’s application clearly states ‘Eligible under general category, OBC not from Goa’. The letters go to the extent of offering the candidates permanent posts on probation basis when in fact the university’s own
advertisement states that “the university reserves the right to appoint the candidate from the general category purely on contract basis in case a suitable candidate is not available from the reserved categories.”
In an open letter on the recruitments written by a number of individuals, they ask for a judicial inquiry to be conducted to investigate and fix responsibility for the deliberate attempt to sabotage the rights of the SC/ST/OBC.
The open letter also points to the large number of backlogs in the reserved categories yet to be filled and asks that the university first fill these backlogs.
Their letter also states that representatives from these communities required to be present during the interviews were not present. Another grouse the candidates have is that the head of the ST/SC cell is not a representative from their community. Professor N S Bhat headed the cell. He was relieved and on September 24 Sanjyot D Pai Vernerar was appointed. Amita Kanekar one of the one of the petitioners says it is the indifference and casualness of the university that needs to change. “The negligence was intentional and the university thought the people from this community to be ignorant and thought they would easily digest the injustice.”
Another person who signed the letter said the matter was being handled in a very high handed manner with high level caste based politics at play.
When Herald Review asked Vice Chancellor Satish Shetye for his reaction to the issues raised in this matter he said: “We contacted our legal advisor when objections were raised and when they told us that there seems to be something wrong here we immediately acted upon it.”
He says he is still trying to understand what further objections are being raised in the open letter. “These are conspiracy theories. We’ve done everything according to the roster. Before advertising we consulted the government and went ahead only after their approval. What are these backlogs they are talking about? They are not clear to me.”
