Bihar forms panel to review assistant professor recruitment system, suggest comprehensive reforms

Bihar has formed a five-member panel to examine the recruitment system for assistant professors in state universities and recommend comprehensive changes to the existing process, a senior official said.

The committee includes retired IAS officers Amarjit Sinha and Sanjay Kumar, physicist and Padma Shri awardee Prof H C Verma, and two other members. Sanjay Kumar, additional secretary (university) in the governor’s secretariat, has been appointed as the panel’s member secretary.

Dipak Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary to the governor, said the committee will examine multiple aspects of assistant professor recruitment, including age limits, eligibility requirements, the examination and interview process and the weight assigned to different selection criteria.

“The committee will look into various aspects of the process of recruitment of assistant professors, including age, eligibility criteria, nature of examination and interview, relative weightage of different parameters, the issues involving guest lectures and other related aspects," Singh said.

The panel will also examine issues related to guest lecturers as part of its broader review of the recruitment framework.

“The committee shall submit its report containing its findings and specific, actionable recommendations to the Lok Bhawan within a period of 90 days," he added.

Singh said the committee’s formation follows an agreement reached on Aug 24 between Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Ata Hasnain and representatives of the All PhD Holders and Researchers Association.

The development comes after members of the association held a three-week protest last month at Gardani Bagh in Patna, the designated site for demonstrations in the state capital. Several participants also went on hunger strikes during the protest.

The agitation ended after a “two-hour-long” meeting between the association’s delegation and the governor.

Among the association’s key demands was raising the maximum age limit for assistant professor appointments to 55 years. The protesters also sought recruitment through “written tests of objective type."

According to Singh, the governor had earlier assured the protesters that a committee of “educationists and administrators” would be established “within 15 days” to examine their demands and recommend changes to the existing assistant professor recruitment system.

The newly constituted panel will now review the recruitment framework and submit its findings and specific recommendations within 90 days.