154 posts lying vacant in Mumbai University

Despite a whopping 154 out of 365 posts lying vacant for almost a year in Mumbai University (MU), the management seems to be in no hurry to recruit.

Just 211 of the 365 vacant post have been filled. Among them are key positions like that of the director of distance learning and director of the Garware Institute, both extremely important and prestigious. The positions are from the varsity itself, and not colleges affiliated to it. The vacant posts also include those for 19 professors, 23 associate professors and 25 assistant professors.

The varsity had advertised about 147 posts on December 13 last year, which received an overwhelming response. However, after scrutinising the list for candidates eligible for interviews, officials never carried out the process. Moreover, it seems the university is not in hurry to do so either and might take a few more months.

Recruitment stopped after a new Government Resolution (GR) granting reservations to Muslims and Marathas in educational institutions and jobs came into existence in January this year. Had recruitments been done immediately in December last year, the new GR would not have been applicable to them.

Dr M A Khan, registrar of Mumbai University, said, "We are preparing for the Indian Science Congress, which would be held from January 3 to 7 next year. It being a very important event, most of the people are involved in making it a grand success. Though we have completed scrutinising the candidates to be called for interviews, we won't be able to conduct it before February next year."

"As per government policy, we are inspecting reservations as per roster. We will inform them about available and filled posts as per rule and further advertise new posts," he added.