Pune: In a move to address the large number of vacant teaching positions in government-aided private Ayurvedic and Unani colleges across the state, the Department of Medical Education and Drugs has announced that these posts will now be filled through direct recruitment.
A selection committee has been appointed to oversee the process, which will help fill the positions of principal, professor, associate professor, and assistant professor that have remained vacant for an extended period.
The vacant teaching positions have been affecting both medical education and healthcare services. The recruitment process, which excludes minority-status institutions, will ensure that the remaining government-aided Ayurvedic and Unani colleges can finally hire the necessary staff.
The decision to recruit through a selection board was first made in 2017, under the direction of the Department of Medical Education and Drugs.
The structure of the selection board has since been revised, with specific criteria and procedures put in place. However, minority-status institutions have been exempted from filling these positions through the state selection board.
Private aided institutions had previously filed a petition in the Aurangabad bench of the High Court to retain the right to fill teaching positions on their own. The High Court has issued orders regarding this petition, and a special leave petition has been filed in the Supreme Court.
As a result, the vacancies could not be filled due to the ongoing legal proceedings. The Department of Medical Education and Drugs has stated that the recruitment process for these posts is crucial for both education and patient care, and it will now move forward through the selection committee.
The newly formed selection committee will consist of the chairman of the college management committee or their representative, the director of AYUSH, subject experts nominated by the Vice-Chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, the principal of the respective college, the head of the concerned department, and a representative from the reserved category within the institution.
