Supreme Court recently ordered that NET or SLET should be the eligibility criteria for appointing the assisting professors in colleges or universities. Supreme Court has not upheld the regulations that has been made by University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding the minimum qualification of NET and SET entrance tests and it is a major jolt for MPhil and PhD degree holders and teachers in colleges, who have been appointed after the NET-SET exemption was made in 2010. With this decision many hundreds of individuals in the states will be affected as many candidates who had not cleared the SET and NET had joined the institutions as teachers. Justices T S Thakur and RohintonNariman had mandated that these individuals should have to clear either exams.
It has been alleged by members of NET and SLET association that although Supreme Court has made NET and SLET mandatory for appointing assistant professors and lecturers, State Government is not doing so and defying the court order. As nearly 50,000 aspirants who have passed the NET examinations are working in a lower rank jobs,as stated by the association and have urged the state government to abide by the court order.
NET score is considered in Kerala and not the Phd, has been confirmed by the members of the association.Earlier in 1996 an order was made exempting MPhil and Phd holders to teach in the university level. Thus NET and SLET passed aspirants have not gained due importance since then. Over 1,000 faculty posts have been filled by the state government’s order for recruiting them in several institutions in the state.
A petition was filed by association members in the Madhurai bench of Madras High Court requesting the state government to follow the order of SC. Ajay Darekar, President of Bharatiya Eligible Students and Teachers’ Association (BETSTA) has welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision and has said it will surely create a huge impact in the states.
This order has been given for maintaining excellence in standards of higher education and upholding the constitutional validity of 2009 university Grants Commission regulations by which NET/SLET is considered the minimum eligibility condition for recruitment. The court said. “Keeping this object in mind, a minimum eligibility condition of passing the national eligibility test is laid down.”
by Sushma Javare.