Cuttack, April 15: The process of filling up over 150 faculty positions at Ravenshaw University continues to hang in the balance with authorities at the institution unable to complete the recruitment process for nearly two years now due to legal issues.

The posts of professors (20), readers (37) and lecturers (99) in 18 disciplines are vacant.

The university had first issued an advertisement inviting applications for the posts on June 23, 2014. However, a legal dispute over the alleged anomalies in the advertisement dragged on for more than a year till the high court quashed it on December 9 last year.

While invalidating the recruitment process, the high court had directed the university to issue fresh advertisement strictly in accordance with University Grants Commission (UGC) Act and Regulations within four weeks and complete the recruitment process within a further period of eight weeks.

Accordingly, the university issued a revised advertisement on January 29 and went ahead with the recruitment process. Interview of candidates started on April 5.

But the recruitment process hit a hurdle on April 7 with the high court issuing a stay order on the entire revised advertisement.

The court issued the interim stay order on separate petitions filed by two applicants - Sujata Mishra and Manoranjan Behura - seeking quashing of the advertisement alleging irregularities in it by way of violation of UGC regulations and the December 9, 2016 high court order. While Mishra had applied for the posts of professor and reader in applied geography, Behura had applied for post of lecturer in English. Both had not received call letters for interview.

"Among the different anomalies contended include specialisation requirement called for the posts when the UGC regulation dealing with recruitment for faculty positions does not lay down such criteria for the posts," petitioners' counsel Amit Prasad Bosee said.

The court is expected to hear the matter next week along with responses from Ravenshaw University and the state government.

University officials refused to say anything as the matter is pending before the court.

It may be noted that the high court, while quashing the recruitment process in its December 9, 2015 order, a division bench of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice D.P. Choudhury had observed: "It is painful for us to observe that the authorities in the helm of affairs of administration of Ravenshaw University have not bothered at all about the glory and unblemished record of a premiere institution and in the result made the entire recruitment of teachers a mockery."