Delhi University panel flags irregularities in St Stephen’s faculty recruitment

A five-member Delhi University (DU) inquiry committee has found serious irregularities in the recruitment of assistant professors at St Stephen’s College, concluding that the institution violated university-approved shortlisting criteria to accommodate candidates who would otherwise have been ineligible for consideration by the selection committee.

The committee, headed by Prof Inder Mohan Kapahy, found that the college lowered the minimum academic score required for shortlisting candidates from 55 to 50 and called 70 candidates for interviews against each unreserved vacancy, instead of following the university's prescribed formula of 40 candidates for the first vacancy and 20 for each subsequent vacancy.

In its report, the committee stated, “St Stephen's College has made appointment in violation of the shortlisting criteria as approved by the statutory bodies of the university to accommodate candidates who otherwise would have been ineligible to be shortlisted to appear in the selection committee.