The candidates who had applied for admissions in PhD at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) Rajouri on Friday alleged discrepancies in selection of the candidates.
A group of aggrieved candidates complained that the selection of candidates in Zoology and Biotechnology department was not done on merit.
“The selectors adopted nepotism to select those candidates who were not figuring in the selection list,” an aggrieved candidate said.
The candidates said the university released the list of selected candidates without mentioning the points obtained by them in Entrance test and the interview.
“The selection has been done in violation of set norms and some blue-eyed candidates have been picked while the deserving candidates have been dropped,” the candidates said.
The dejected students questioned the selection in PhD admissions and asked the concerned HoDs to reveal the score of the selected candidates.
The candidates accused that the panel of selectors fraudulently increased score of those students during interviews who did not perform well while delivering their PowerPoint presentation.
“One of the selected candidates is a close relative of one of the HoDs in the University,” the candidate said, adding that the candidates have been selected on basis of ‘favouritism.’
“One of the professor who was in selection panel has only adjusted those students who were closely related to him,” he said.
The candidate said the students who have published their research work during their M.Sc. programme in reputed journals and performed research work in reputable institutions of the country have been dropped in the Biotechnology programme.
“The admissions made for PhD programs in Zoology and Biotechnology department are dubious and should be withdrawn immediately,” another aggrieved student said.
They said the University has already violated the UGC norms laid down by assigning more than 15 scholars to a single professor.
“One professor has 17 research scholars while as an associate professor can have a maximum of only 6 scholars as per UGC norms,” the student said, adding that the said professor was taking ‘illegal favours’ from the University and has been appointed as a DRC member in the Zoology department and Biotechnology as well.
“This is surprising as one person can be appointed as DRC member in only one committee,” the candidates said.
Pertinently, the BGSBU Rajouri is hitting newspaper headlines for past few weeks over some backdoor appointments made in the Varsity.
At a time when the candidates decry dubious selection for PhD admissions, the university is being run by Vice Chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) as his additional charges. He was given this additional charge after the five year term of the former VC ended on October 27.
“The new VC is not aware of the overall selection process. We appeal the J&K Lieutenant Governor who is also the Chancellor of the University to personally intervene into the matter,” the aggrieved students said.
They said the Heads of the departments should reveal the score of the candidates who have been given admissions for PhD.
“We appeal the Chancellor to withhold the selection list of candidates given admission in PhD,” the candidates said.
Dean Biosciences at BGSBU Rajouri Prof. Iqbal Parvez who is also the Head of the Biotechnology department defended the selection for PhD admissions and said that all the students were selected on merits.
“We have maintained proper transparency in the selection list and followed all set norms,” he said.
Prof. Iqbal Parvez said the exam for selection in PhD programs was done in two phases including written and interview. “Written comprises of 70 percent marks and interview was of 30 percent marks. But we deliberately didn’t disclose the score of written exam to the candidates so that they won’t use any influence to get good score in interview,” he said.
He said the candidates having any objections with the selection can approach the department and get their issues addressed. “If they approach the department, we will show them their score of written exams,” he said.