New Delhi: The alleged suicide of a former Delhi University ad hoc assistant professor has brought the spotlight back onto the job losses caused by the university’s ongoing recruitment drive for permanent faculty, with professors and students holding protests and condolence meetings Thursday.
According to a statement shared by Harinder Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Outer District, 33-year-old Samarveer was found hanging from a ceiling fan Wednesday. The statement read: “On enquiry, his cousin revealed that the deceased was working as an ad hoc lecturer in Hindu College. Recently, another lecturer was appointed in his place. He was depressed.”
Samarveer, who had worked as an assistant professor of philosophy at Hindu College for more than five years, was one of many ad hoc faculty members who were displaced in the recruitment drive that began in September 2022.
University professors ThePrint spoke to said that about 75 per cent of ad hoc teaching staff have thus far been displaced due to this. They have alleged that the process is unfair, opaque, and influenced by political factors, and argued that service in ad hoc positions should be taken into consideration when making appointments to permanent positions.
However, when ThePrint reached DU registrar Vikas Gupta late last year about the same issue, he had said the University Grants Commission (UGC) 2018 regulations did not have any provision for to regularise the services of temporary or ad hoc teachers through one-time absorption.
“There is no provision for absorption of ad hocs. If we even considered it, it would be a violation of various articles in DU’s constitution,” he had added.
Professors at Delhi University have called Samarveer’s death an “institutional murder”. Abha Dev Habib, a professor at Miranda College, wrote in a Facebook post, “Their lives were wasted…they were forced to work on ad hoc positions for long years…Mr Samarveer, who was displaced from Hindu College has lost his life…institutional murder.”
Another professor, who knew the deceased, wrote on Facebook, “He didn’t accept the guest lecturer’s job in our college earlier because he (had) accepted an ad hoc job in Hindu. He told me that after 20+ days, the college informed him that the college cannot continue with his service as it’s not allowed by the university.”
The post added, “I could sense his helplessness. He further informed that her mother lost one of her eyesight when he didn’t get the permanent job which he was expecting (sic).”
Samarveer had lost his job in the first week of February, according to professors who knew him. However, Hindu College had granted him another temporary position until the end of March, said principal Anju Srivastava.
In a statement to ThePrint, Srivastava said, “We are in deep shock after hearing the news of Mr Samarveer’s demise. He remained a bright scholar and was pursuing a PhD at our college itself.”
“During the faculty recruitment process, the selection committee was unable to select him as he did not have a PhD. It is the sad reality that not all ad hoc professors have been absorbed in the colleges that they were serving.”
“Since we wanted to be sensitive to his needs, we were able to give him a temporary position in the college till the end of March. He was relieved of his duties in the first week of April,” she added.
A professor from the philosophy department also said Samarveer had been offered a position as a guest lecturer till he could find another job.
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Protests abound
The Delhi University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) held a protest Thursday afternoon and arranged a condolence meet later in the evening. Student groups also took action, with the Students Federation of India’s (SFI) Hindu College unit organising a condolence meet and the All India Students Association (AISA) holding a protest against “brutal injustice to teachers” at the college’s gates Thursday noon.
Rajesh Jha, a former member of the DU executive council, told ThePrint, “For so long, DUTA has been asking for absorption of ad hoc faculty but the university has paid no heed to our demands. These professors have been doing a great job of teaching and have been assimilated into the culture of the university.”
Maya John, an assistant professor at Jesus and Mary College, said in a Facebook post, “It is a fact that a sizeable number of long-serving ad hoc teachers, who otherwise fill all the criteria and have worked very hard for their institutions, have been displaced in the recent interviews.”
“With permanent appointments being made through a so-called ‘open’ recruitment process which has seen massive displacement, there expectedly looms in many ad hoc teachers a sense of betrayal as they have been rendered without a livelihood…,” she added.
She claimed that ad hoc professors had been “falsely promised” that they would be retained, which “of course has remained a hoax”.
If you are feeling suicidal or depressed, please call a helpline number in your state.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)