Lecturer manages to get two postings

A lecturer recently selected by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) has surprised the officials of the Department of Collegiate Education by securing placement orders in two colleges during the recent counselling.

A day after he was given placement orders as commerce lecturer at the Government First Grade College in Arsikere, the candidate, Ravi Kumar, who is said to be an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) activist, worked his way through myriad procedures to secure an order to report for duty at the Government Arts College in Bangalore instead.

A shocked Commissioner for Collegiate Education Nagambika Devi, who came upon the irregularity, immediately cancelled the second order and ordered an inquiry. “We have cancelled the second order. We have sought an explanation from him and will take punitive action,” she told The Hindu.

Ravi Kumar’s “ingenuity” came to light when a candidate sought a modification in his posting. “The candidate cited Ravi Kumar’s case and even produced documents to prove the modification,” she said. “Obviously, an insider is involved. An inquiry will be held to identify him,” she said.

“This is the first time that a transparent system for posting lecturers through counselling procedure has been adopted. Hitherto, selected candidates had to ‘meet influential people’ for a posting of their choice. Under this system, everybody has an equal chance. Almost 90 per cent of the candidates are happy,” she said.

The Department of Collegiate Education followed the seniority list prepared by the KPSC to post lecturers to colleges. “However, we gave concession to handicapped candidates, who were preferred over other candidates to give a posting to colleges of their choice,” she said.

Though the demand for colleges in Bangalore was high, a large number of selected lecturers even preferred colleges in Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Bidar and Bijapur.

“There were several takers for colleges in north Karnataka as many selected candidates hailed from these places. This could be due to the fact that recruitment of lecturers was held after a long time,” she said.