Prof I I Pandya, BUTA president and syndicate member said, “At the recently held syndicate meeting, we raised the issue that more than 125 teachers had not been promoted, though they were eligible for the same. The promotions are being delayed in spite of the university having adopted the guidelines of the University Grants Commission — Career Advancement Scheme [UGC-CAS] six years ago.”

The issue of CAS appointments was highlighted when an expert from the panel appointed by the syndicate was not pleased with the research work done by a faculty member from the Economics Department under the MSU Arts Faculty.

Amit Dholakia, a syndicate member said, “The experts had a problem with the way the research paper was presented. So some BUTA members took cue from this and raised the UGC-CAS issue and argued that the appointment itself was unfair,” added Dholakia.

According to the procedure followed in the M S University, the syndicate decides the appointments internally and then sends it to the UGC for approval. “The UGC approval is likely to come next month,” said Dholakia.

Pragnesh Shah, another syndicate member, said that the research work conducted by the Economics teacher in the Arts Faculty was presented two years ago to the same experts. Shah adds that the ineptness of the authorities came into light when the same paper that was presented and rejected by the expert panel in 1998, was presented by the economics teacher this year also.”

The UGC-CAS norms state that sanctioned posts of professors must be filled through direct recruitment after issuing advertisements across the country. A Reader, with eight years’ experience could be promoted to the rank of Professor after assessment of the published research by an expert panel outside the university.