The teaching fraternity of Patna University welcomed the cabinet’s nod to fill vacant posts in the state’s varsities through Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and expressed hope of fast approval to the proposal from the new governor.

The cabinet approved the proposal on Tuesday.

Bihar Education Infrastructure Development Corporation managing director Sanjeevan Sinha said: “The state government will get the bill for recruitment of lecturers (assistant professors) passed in the current session. After the bill is passed in the Assembly, the act will be sent to Raj Bhavan for the governor’s nod and then it would be notified allowing the recruitment process to start.”

Faculty members at Patna University said with the appointments conducted through the BPSC, the process would become transparent. Chances of candidates filing litigation cases, alleging anomalies in the recruitment process, would also be less, they said.

The recruitment would be done on the guidelines of University Grants Commission that makes qualification in National Eligibility Test mandatory. Candidates who would be eligible for appointment as lecturers in different subjects need to be below 45 years of age with minimum 55 per cent in postgraduation.

V.S. Dube, a senior geology teacher at Patna University, said: “This is a good step initiated by the state government. It will bring transparency in the appointment of teachers. The state’s varsities will also get good teachers.”

U.K. Sinha, another senior teacher of the varsity, said: “Teachers would be recruited on a common criteria through the centralised recruitment process through the BPSC. I hope the new governor does not delay the process over his approval.”

Around 1,400 teachers were last appointed in Bihar in 2003, including 117 in Patna University, during the tenure of Rabri Devi. The recruitment was done through Bihar Elementary Test and interview but it had run into controversies over graft charges.

The last teachers’ appointment process through BPSC was done in 1975. A senior teacher of university, who did not wish to be named, said: “From 1975-1987, teachers working in the universities for 18 months or 24 months on ad hoc basis were absorbed by the state.”