250 non-teaching staff against 512 required as per UGC norms
Shillong, Nov 5: Non-teaching staff of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) on Monday launched an indefinite cease work, bringing entire administrative work of the university to a standstill, in protest against delay in promotion and recruitment for posts advertised a year ago.
Due the delay in recruitment and promotion, the strength of non-teaching staff drastically went down in both Shillong and Tura campuses of NEHU, a primary reason for adopting the agitation path, according to NEHU Non-Teaching Staff Association (NEHUNSA).
The authorities have not responded to several applications to expedite the process of recruitment, NEHUNSA said.
As per University Grants Commission (UGC) norms, the ratio should be 1:1.1 which means the strength of non-teaching staff should be 512, said Dr WR Synrem, president of NEHUNSA.
“Unfortunately, our present strength is around 250 including Tura campus and this year around 50 plus non-teaching staff have retired. Next year also, it (staff retiring) will be around the same number,” Dr Synrem wondering as to how the university would function if the recruitment does not take place for long.
It’s the non-teaching staff who deal with teachers and students, so everything will get affected in absence of non-teaching staff, he said.
“We have decided to continue with our indefinite agitation till the authority gives us a proper answer as to when they are going to hold the recruitment process,” he added.
The National Testing Agency (NTA), which was supposed to conduct the recruitment, communicated to NEHU on 16 July 2024 about its inability to do it, said NEHUSA president Dr WR Synrem on Friday.
Accordingly, NEHU called for Expression of Interest (EoI) for the purpose with 30 September as last date of submission of EoI. However, even after a month, not a single agency has been allotted responsibility to conduct the recruitment, lamented NEHUNSA.
The association took the decision to launch an indefinite “pen-down and tool-down” strike after NEHU did not respond to a “deadline” set by NEHUNSA to announce the syllabus and date of written exam by October end.
Expressing concern over “paucity of regular staff”, the NEHUSA also blamed the “inefficiency” the administrative head for delay in process of promotion of the deserving staff who had served the university for over 10 years.
Asked about the demands made by NEHUTA and NEHUSU, Dr Synrem said, “We are not totally part of it but we have given our letter of support to the issues raised by them and beyond that no comment.”
He also accused the incumbent vice-chancellor being perennially “out of station” that has affected NEHU to a great extent.”
