The UGC has sought a response from Jadavpur University (JU) on a complaint of violations of rules issued by the regulatory body for PhD admissions.
JU registrar Snehamanju Basu has been asked to examine the complaint and send her comments.
Officiating vice-chancellor Buddhadeb Sau had withheld the publication of the merit list for PhD admissions in the arts faculty in November and cited alleged irregularities in the admission process.
The letter, signed by the education officer of the UGC, says: “With reference to the above subject (Violation of UGC regulations in PhD admissions of Jadavpur University), I am directed to enclose herewith a copy of a complaint received from... which is self-explanatory and to request you to examine the matter and send your comments thereon to UGC to determine a further course of action in the matter.”
The complaint attached to the letter says the university has started admitting students under the supernumerary (excess beyond the stipulated limit) quota, “which means some of the teachers will supervise 15 to 20 students each whereas UGC mandated a maximum of 8” for each professor.
The complaint also alleges corruption in the admission process.
“All fresh candidates without NET (National Eligibility Test) passed the interviews and made it to the final selection list. The funny thing is none of the NET-JRF (Junior Research Fellow) could pass the interview process. My request is to investigate the process and scrap the supernumerary quota system,” the UGC letter says.
UGC rules say a professor, an associate professor and an assistant professor can supervise eight, six and four PhD scholars, respectively, at a time.
Officiating VC Sau said: “I have heard that a letter has reached the university regarding PhD admissions. There are allegations of anomalies which need to be probed.”
JU had on November 18 withheld admission to its PhD programme in the arts faculty because, the officiating VC had said, the university’s highest decision-making body had yet to approve the results of the admission tests and cited complaints of irregularities related to supernumerary admissions.
The suspension was lifted following a protest by a section of teachers.
Manojit Mandal, the head of the English department, said: “The allegations are serious in nature. We hope the university will carry out a fair probe and update the UGC.”
Registrar Basu said: “The communication from the UGC has been forwarded to the dean and secretary of the arts faculty for necessary action.”