Dear Colleagues,

The letter of the secretary, UGC, New Delhi (No. F.9-3/2010 (PS)/Misc dated 12/10/12) addressed to the Vice-Chancellors of Indian Universities and also a public notice no.F.9-3/2010 (PS) dated 12/10/12 issued by the UGC is a setback to the PhD holders in different disciplines (PhD registered/awarded from 2005 to 2009) and causing a lot of discomfort among the stakeholders for the posts of Asstt. Prof./ Asstt. Librarian and also the college librarian in Indian Universities. The letter and the public notice under reference say that “NET/SLET/SET shall remain the minimum eligibility condition for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professors in universities/ colleges/ institutions. Provided however, that candidates, who  are or have been awarded a PhD. Degree in accordance with the university Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for award of PhD. Degree)Regulations, 2009, shall be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of Net/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor or equivalent positions in Universities/ Colleges/Institutions”.

It is a matter of great concern for us all as a PhD holder awarded a PhD not in accordance with the specified standards as notified in the gazette of India are/will never be eligible for the posts as mentioned above and as such will never be considered for the appointments against such posts. It is totally illegal and unjustified to implement the guidelines of 2009 on the research scholars who was registered for PhD about 4-5 yrs prior to it.

            Although, I have been writing to the competent authorities for months and am sure, many of my colleagues, sailing in the same boat, must also be very disturbed by this dictatorship of UGC. To me, any regulations are implemented for the future and not the past. In fact, any modification in the regulations should have been notified much earlier and should have been sent for implementation to the universities to see that all the requisite conditions/ formalities are adopted by the universities themselves before  the PhD degrees were awarded to the candidates .

I wish to share my thoughts as stated above with all of my learned colleagues of all disciplines and also seek your kind advise as to which course of action be adopted to nullify this unjustified and illegal regulation of UGC. I suggest that the court of law is the only option (Hon’ble High court of any state preferably Delhi) I once again request you to please come forward with a positive attitude otherwise we all will  be thrown out of the race for  the job we are aspiring for.

I also invite the colleagues kindly to furnish your details (i.e, year of Reg., year of Award, Name of University, Contact No., E-mail Id etc.) so that we all come united at a common platform for a common cause.

(Dr. Ashok Kumar Upadhyay)

AMU, Aligarh

(M)+91 7428066447

E-mail: ashoka143@gmail.com