How NIT Silchar is delaying non-teaching appointments and blocking employment opportunities by retaining pensioners

In March 2019, the National Institute of Technology Silchar had issued an advertisement announcing non-teaching vacancies in the central government institution. As many as 73 posts were notified out of which one was “short-term contractual” and the rest happened to be “direct.”

The eligibility criteria for each post were duly mentioned by the establishment and each candidate belonging to the general and OBC category was asked to submit a fee of Rs 1000 while for SC/ST it was Rs 500.

Issued on March 7, 2019, the advertisement asked applicants to apply within 15 days. Candidates from all three districts of Barak Valley applied for various posts. If sources in NIT are to be believed, more than Rs 10 lakh got accumulated in the form of application fees.

However, an institution that recently featured in Times’ list of excellent colleges has long forgotten the advertisement and the employment crisis in the locality. Around 18 months have passed and the applicants are clueless about the recruitment process and the money.

“I have paid Rs 5000 as I applied for five different posts. A job in NIT is a prestigious feat and that is why many of us were upbeat about it. As it turns out, the management is only bothered about the academic accolades. They have turned a blind eye to the non-teaching recruitments,” said an applicant on condition of anonymity.

What was known as Regional Engineering College (REC) earlier, National Institute of Technology Silchar has improved leaps and bounds in the last 10 years. The state of the art infrastructure, transparent merit-based recruitment of professors and brilliant academic performance, the engineering institution has earned a respectable position nationally on the back of its performance.

Behind the rosy goody-goody canvas, the inconsistencies in the non-teaching departments got hidden. Sivaji Bandhopadhyay, director of NIT Silchar, who gets credited for the academic laurels has also preferred to stay at a distance from the non-teaching affairs, though it is under his purview.

When asked about the delay in recruitment, director Sivaji Bandhopadhyay said, “The recruitment procedure is still under process. I understand the sensitivity of the matter, as it is related to non-teaching appointments, there is high anticipation among the locals. Last six months, everything got disrupted because of the pandemic, we will soon get on it.”

He assured that the applications won’t be discarded and the process will kickstart as things normalises further. The applicants, however, feel that this attitude is very “unlike” NIT Silchar. “Since the announcement of these non-teaching posts last year, NIT has appointed many teachers. While those appointments are done on time, the non-teaching appointments are shelved,” said another applicant.

Not only the delay in recruitment, but NIT Silchar has also been blocking employment opportunities of deserving local youths. Since 2010, the institution has been retaining retired non-teaching staff on a contractual basis. After passing the retirement age of 60, these non-teaching officials work on a fixed monthly remuneration. Along with the remuneration, they get their monthly pension credited too.

“This is a clear case of rich becoming richer and the poor fighting for survival. There are so many young individuals who have completed their masters, and are working as teachers in private institutions or sales executive and earning peanuts. How can the ones in pension not think about their own children and their family members,” said a young resident of the valley who has completed his masters four years back and is still looking for a permanent job.

Overall, NIT Silchar that is building a sublime story on the academic front has a sorry state of affairs when it comes to non-teaching departments.