Last year, after earning the dubious distinction of having its top officials charged with irregularities, the vice chancellor R N Singh went into the hiding. Then, the charge was about irregularities in appointments. This time the charge is with regard to hiring staff for academic positions.

The State government's proposed move to bring an ordinance to regularise the services of 166 temporary lecturers in Rajasthan University, allegedly appointed in violation of specified rules, has stirred the hornet's nest.

Another group of 140 temporary lecturers have lodged their protest against the move, listing many irregularities in the appointments, violation of court directives and discriminatory tactics.

They point out that regularising the services of the 166 temporary lecturers would be against the regular selection procedure and said that such appointments were meant only for a maximum of one year term under the present rules. But, the university, acting under some pressure, neither modified the list of the successful candidates nor did it ever advertise the posts and kept extending the service of these lecturers.

Secondly, many of them did not meet the eligibility criteria laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC), while the 140 temporary lecturers, not considered in the proposed move, fulfilled all the UGC guidelines. ``Regularising services of the earlier 166 lecturers would thus be unfair to these 140 temporary lecturers,'' they maintained.

Besides, the university did not account for the reservation quota in making the temporary appointments. These lecturers fear that if the services of earlier 166 were regularised, leaving them out, the entire backlog of reservation quota since 1990 would need to be filled up and they would be deprived of their job.

A ad hoc committee report had earlier said that many other norms were violated in the case. The agitated lecturers have sent a memorandum to the UGC Chairman, seeking his intervention in the matter.