PORVORIM: Amidst demands from the Opposition as well as the ruling MLAs, the State government has decided to withdraw the permission given to Goa University (GU) that allowed it to relax the otherwise mandatory domicile and language criteria for appointments to faculty positions.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the State Legislative Assembly on Friday that government has communicated to the concerned to seek another permission wherein the criteria are not compromised. “The government had agreed to relax the criteria subject to “if and only if” local eligible candidate is not available. We then issued clarification that if there is no local eligible candidate, the GU should take clearance on a case-to-case basis from the State government to relax these criteria,” he said during a Zero Hour mention by Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco who pointed out that varsity had advertised around 35 vacancies relaxing these two important criteria.
“Goa might lose its Goenkarponn. Let us not remove the important criteria,” Lourenco demanded. Town & Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai agreed with him saying that non-Goans were planning to “eat the posts”. He also sought that the government ensure that locals are not denied job opportunities.
Conceding that the number of vacancies are a result of unavailability of capable Goan candidates to the posts, Parrikar, also Education Minister, stated, “I have asked them to seek permission again.”
GU, in 2015, when Laxmikant Parsekar was the Chief Minister had sought the government’s permission to relax the mandatory rules of 15 years domicile and mother tongue to fill pending vacancies piling up due to failure to find suitable Goan candidates for the posts.
The apex educational institution has been finding it difficult to fill up vacancies and these touched around 90, comprising professors, associate professors and assistant professors. It received the nod to advertise for 90 vacancies this year.
