ITANAGAR, May 13: The People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) has expressed shock at what it termed the “whimsical” decision of the state government to implement an upper age limit for the post of assistant professor (core law faculty) at the Government Law College of Arunachal Pradesh, and demanded its removal.
Referring to the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) advertisement of 27 December, 2017 for the post of assistant professor (core law faculty), wherein the upper age limit was set at 30 years as on 31 January, 2018, (with some relaxation in accordance with the orders issued by the state government from time to time), the PPA said that it was in violation of the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) rules.
Sharing the sentiments of the law fraternity of the state, the regional party said that the BCI has formed rules under Part IV for Standard of Legal Education and Recognition of Degrees and Para 20 under Schedule III of Part IV, saying the minimum qualification for faculty is either an LLM degree or as prescribed by the UGC and other such standard setting bodies.
“Fixing an upper age limit does not align with the norms prescribed by the BCI and the UGC for recruitment of assistant professor (law) and no upper age limit has been prescribed for faculty recruitment,” it said.
Saying that various colleges and universities across the country follow the UGC and BCI rules for appointing assistant professors, and that no institution ever fixes an upper age limit for appointment of an assistant professor, the PPA said the UGC rules do not have an upper age limit for the National Eligibility Test (NET), qualifying in which is a requirement to apply for the post of assistant professor.
The PPA questioned the state government’s decision to implement the upper age limit, in view that the NET itself does not have an upper age limit for persons applying for the post of assistant professor.
“Fixing an arbitrary upper age limit is gross violation of the UGC and BCI rules. The government of Arunachal Pradesh is indirectly discouraging eligible and experienced candidates to apply for the post of assistant professor,” the party said, and sought immediate removal of the arbitrary upper age limit “to facilitate the growth of legal education in the state.”
