Anticipating the acceptance of the Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations by the State Government the finance department has issued this GR which, among other austerity measures, has directed educational institutes not to recruit permanent or full-time lecturers, readers and professors. The teaching work should be carried on by engaging teachers on clock-hour basis, paying honorarium, it said. The directive has hit hard the institutions where a sizeable number of teaching posts are lying vacant for years.

The case in point is the Shivaji University, where some 54 posts in post-graduate departments -- 13 professors, 13readers and 23 lecturers -- are vacant for over five years. The posts were not filled between 1993 and 1996 as the problem of reservation for backward categories could not be settled. The posts were advertised on December 4, 1996. The process, however, was slowed down as the issue of women's 30 per cent reservation as per the GR of June 22, 1994 was raised and consultation with the Government necessitated.