Nearly 20 per cent of the 2,859 sanctioned posts in the University of Kashmir were lying vacant as on February 2024, the varsity said in response to an application filed under Right to Information Act (RTI), highlighting significant staff shortage across departments.
The application filed by Jammu-based RTI activist Raman Kumar Sharma in February this year revealed that majority of the vacancies are at the faculty level. This includes over 200 key posts of professors, associate professors and assistant professors, besides 110 junior assistants.
Against the sanctioned strength of 2,859 posts, 570 posts were vacant as on February 29, 2024, Central Public Information Officer of the University of Kashmir, Ghulam Mohammed Wani said in his response.
Wani, who is also Assistant Registrar at the university, said there are 56 sanctioned posts of professors but 47 are vacant, while 91 out of 120 associate professor posts are unoccupied.
Similarly, only 291 posts of assistant professors are filled, leaving 80 other posts vacant, he said, adding that against the sanctioned posts of seven directors, five remained vacant.
As many as 110 junior assistant posts, against sanctioned strength of 180, are without staff, he said.
The RTI also revealed that the posts of dean of college development council, dean of students’ welfare, academic coordinator, research fellow, editor-cum-lecturer, documentation officer, editor-cum-research assistant, additional controller of examination and assistant estates officer are also lying vacant.
The university also awaits the appointment of professor-cum-principal (nursing), two assistant professors (nursing), three tutors (nursing), two deputy directors and three assistant directors in physical education department, one deputy director and three assistant directors in directorate of internal quality assurance, nine assistant librarians and two placement officers.
The Institute of Music and Fine Arts of the university is also without a principal and out of seven senior instructors (IMFA), only three are posted in the department, the RTI said.
There are three vacancies of joint registrars, two deputy registrars-cum-deputy controller examinations, seven assistant registrars-cum-assistant controller-examinations, two assistant programmers, one auditor, three coaches (physical education and sports), two computer operators, three Hindi typists and five junior engineers, Wani said. (PTI)
