Jadavpur University reappoints retired teachers, government says guidelines violated'

Kolkata: Jadavpur University Friday found itself in another controversy after the administration decided to retain three of its retired professors for an extended period of three months as “professors in residence”.

The three professors had retired on November 30.

This comes two days after the state education department issued a circular saying professors above 60 years of age will not be reappointed and had clarified that if there has been any promise of re-employment it will not stand. A top official of the state education department said that education minister Partha Chatterjee will speak with vice-chancellor and registrar of the university about this matter as this is deemed as a violation of the government’s recent circular.

The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association staged ceasework at the campus on Friday opposing the government’s decision.

“We have urged the V-C to write to the higher education department to keep the old order in place because there are 300 vacancies at JU at the moment. Similar number of vacancies exist in most other universities too,” a Juta member said, adding that they will convene a general body meeting on Monday to decide on their next course of movement.