Laws bar8217; recruitment

VADODARA, May 23: M S University's Law faculty is all set to turn a basic law of economics on its head. If, in the rest of India, unemplo...

VADODARA, May 23: M S University8217;s Law faculty is all set to turn a basic law of economics on its head. If, in the rest of India, unemployment is the fallout of supply of qualified people outstripping demand for them, the definition acquires definite non-Indian connotations here: for as many as eight years, the faculty has not able to find just four full-time lecturers!

The university claims its annual attempts to find the 8220;right kind8221; of faculty comes to naught because of the 8220;increasingly stringent8221; recruitment guidelines of the Bar Council and the University Grants Commission.

While the Bar Council demands that every law faculty in the country have a minimum of four professors, four full-time lecturers and a dean 8212; all with a minimum of 55 per cent marks 8212; an UGC rule to come into effect from the next academic year makes it mandatory for recruits to clear the National Eligibility Test.

8220;We have advertised the vacancies several times8221;, says faculty dean S N Parikh. 8220;But, among the most recent lot, the few who had 55 per cent had not cleared the NET.8221;

8220;But efforts are continuing8221;, adds Pro-Vice-Chancellor Deepak Kumar De. 8220;Interviews are being conducted every Saturday and Monday. But the State government8217;s recent directive that universities seek State approval before recruiting anyone may compound the problem.8221;

8220;The posts have been advertised outside the city three times in the past two years8221;, say sources. 8220;But very few people who want to join the teaching profession have cleared the NET8221;, grumbles a university official, claiming it was difficult to honour the Council and the UGC guidelines.

The university thus has to make do with temporary lecturers, who just need to have a degree in law; there are three in the faculty right now. Though students have no complaints against them, they say it8217;s apparent the job-uncertainty weighs on their minds. There is no provision to absorb the temporary lecturers in the permanent posts.

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While admitting candidates who met all the criteria may be hard to come by, Baroda Bar Association president and senior Senate member Narendra Tiwari says, 8220;There may be a dearth of people with these qualifications in the city, but not in the State.8221;

Nagin Shah, another lawyer, says that the guidelines are stringent, but agrees with Tiwari that there must be people with the appropriate qualifications.

The principal problem, according to a senior faculty professor talking on the condition of anonymity, however, is the reluctance of lawyers to take up teaching in the first place. Though the wide differences in remuneration is a reason that cannot be wished away, the professor says, 8220;There are good professionals in the city and the State, but that is of very little use to the faculty.8221;

And future generations of lawyers.