Only one candidate found eligible for several posts at Gujarat University

A controversy has surfaced over the ongoing non-teaching recruitment process at Gujarat University after eligibility lists revealed that in several posts, only one candidate has been declared eligible, while in some others, all applicants have been disqualified.

The university recently initiated recruitment for a large number of administrative and officer-level posts after a several-year gap. Of the 294 sanctioned non-teaching posts from Class I to Class III categories, 127 posts have already been filled. For the remaining 167 vacancies, advertisements were issued in December, inviting applications for 126 posts through direct recruitment, while 24 posts were to be filled through promotion.

Additionally, applications had been invited earlier for 16 posts of junior clerk, senior clerk and section officer under the PWD (divyang) category, and examinations for these posts were conducted recently.

According to university data, more than 11,000 applications were received for 123 posts, excluding three senior positions – Registrar, Director of Academic Staff College and Director of College Development Council – for which assessment has not yet been completed.

Following document verification and screening, the university published lists of eligible and ineligible candidates, mentioning only application numbers. Of the total applications received, 2,666 were rejected due to incomplete documentation or failure in preliminary review.

However, the outcome has triggered allegations of irregularities. Former national coordinator of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Bhavik Solanki, has alleged that certain posts appear to have been ‘pre-arranged’.

In the post of Personal Assistant (PA) to the Registrar, 32 out of 33 candidates were declared ineligible, leaving only one eligible candidate. Similarly, for the post of PA to the vice-chancellor, only two out of 33 candidates were found eligible. For the post of physical education director, one out of 12 candidates qualified, while for university engineer, only one out of seven candidates was declared eligible.

In three posts, including Chief Account Officer, Deputy Engineer (Civil) and Lab Technician, not a single candidate was declared eligible despite receiving nine, six and 15 applications respectively.

In the junior clerk recruitment, 7,676 candidates have been declared eligible, while 1,991 were found ineligible due to incomplete documents and 176 were disqualified during screening.

The data also showed that no applications were received for five posts reserved under the PWD category, including Assistant Compose Foreman, Electric Wireman, Stenographer, Hostel Warden and Senior Operator. In some other PWD category posts, applications were rejected. Only one candidate each has been declared eligible for the posts of storekeeper-lab and junior superintendent.