Karnataka: Guest faculty appointment to govt colleges to be delayed

MANGALURU: The appointment of guest lecturers at govt first-grade colleges across the state will be delayed for another two or three months, due to faculty transfers and counselling for new assistant professors posts which is scheduled in the coming days.
According to reliable sources from the department of collegiate education (DCE), the appointment of guest lecturers will be taken up only after the completion of the transfer of faculty and appointment for the new posts. Sources added that DCE will start the transfer of permanent faculty who served in one college for more than five years to other colleges. This will be followed by counselling for the appointment of 1,200 assistant professor posts. "The entire process will take at least two months. The appointment of guest faculty will be done only after the completion of this process," a source added.
With the conducting of undergraduate classes across the state suffering due to the delay in guest faculty appointments being withheld by the high court, the state govt has issued an order to temporarily continue the services of guest faculty who already served in the respective colleges before.
"This is the biggest respite that college managements and students have got from the department. If the govt had not asked to temporarily continue the service, there would have been a lot of chaos on the campuses. It would hamper academics with students having no classes," expressed a college principal of a govt first-grade college.
Manjushree N, Commissioner, DCE, Bengaluru said that the decision regarding guest lecture appointment is still to be decided by the High Court. As a temporary measure, those guest lecturers who worked last academic year, have been asked to continue their services.