Haryana Public Service Commission has made mockery of selection of Assistant Professors.

Gustakhi Maaf Haryana-Pawan Kumar Bansal

By our enlightened reader Satish Mehra .First, the experienced and qualified candidates were eliminated through the examination. Now research scholars will teach?

Students studying in various government colleges of the state will now be taught by scholars who are pursuing PhD from different universities. On the other hand, the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) has initiated the recruitment process to fill Assistant Professor posts in state colleges. Under this process, the Commission has excluded candidates who have already completed their PhD, cleared UGC-NET or JRF, from the recruitment. After excluding such candidates from the selection process, the government has now decided that research scholars alone will be responsible for teaching in more than 200 government colleges of the state.

This decision of the state government is quite surprising because, instead of the experienced and long-qualified PhD holders—many of whom have cleared NET/JRF multiple times—the Haryana Public Service Commission is shutting the doors of recruitment for them and handing over the responsibility of teaching to new scholars who are still pursuing their PhD.

It is notable that HPSC had advertised 613 posts of Assistant Professor in English. However, in the subject-knowledge examination held by the Commission, only 151 candidates were declared qualified out of the total 613 posts. Among them are hundreds of candidates who completed their PhD years ago, have cleared NET and JRF, and have years of academic experience. In such a situation, the government’s decision to assign teaching responsibility to new research scholars creates a perplexing scenario.

From the result of the English Assistant Professor examination released by HPSC, it appears as if candidates in Haryana are not even capable of teaching English. The candidates who have reached this level of the recruitment process through HPSC have themselves studied in the same universities and colleges of the state, yet they were declared failed in the subject-knowledge examination. These very candidates have received their education from the same institutions where the government now wants research scholars to teach.

It is noteworthy that HPSC did not even declare twice the number of candidates qualified in comparison to the advertised posts. The Commission did not consider the candidates who qualified the exam even suitable for the post of Assistant Professor. The notification issued by the Commission states that twice the number of candidates will be called for interview. Here, calling twice the number is far beyond consideration—only 151 candidates have been declared qualified, whereas 613 posts were advertised.

Out of the qualified candidates, 136 belong to the General category, whereas there were 312 posts for this category. In the Deprived SC category, only one candidate has passed, despite 60 posts being reserved. Similarly, in the OSC category, only two candidates passed out of 60 posts. In the BCA category, only five candidates have qualified against 85 reserved posts. In the BCB category, only three candidates passed out of 36 posts. In the EWS category, only six candidates passed out of 60 reserved posts.

HPSC had issued the advertisement for these posts in August 2024, and the application deadline was extended twice. After this, a preliminary knowledge test was held on 8 June 2025, in which about 2,200 candidates qualified. The subjective test was conducted on 17 August 2025, in which only 151 candidates passed.

The notification further mentions that only twice the number of candidates will be called for interviews. The candidates who have been shown as qualified will undergo document verification. Only after this will it become clear how many will remain eligible for the interview.

If candidates from Haryana are excelling in UPSC examinations, then why are they failing in HPSC exams? This is a serious question. The posts advertised by HPSC required candidates to have cleared UGC NET or JRF. Many candidates also held PhDs from reputed universities. Where the selection process faltered—only the Haryana Government or the Commission can explain.

After the low pass percentage, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini stated that the result has been declared strictly according to the cutoff. If any candidate has doubts, they may verify their result with HPSC. The low number of qualified candidates suggests that suitable candidates for these posts do not exist in the state. Yet the Chief Minister also proudly states that 58 candidates from Haryana were selected in UPSC, which clearly shows that Haryana’s youth are not lacking talent. Then what went wrong that the same talented candidates who clear UPSC are falling behind in HPSC examinations?

There are more than 180 colleges in the state with nearly 1.75 lakh students. English is the subject with the highest number of vacant posts. The government’s decision to not allow the most qualified candidates to teach, and instead to have research scholars teach the students, is quite astonishing.

The candidates who have been rejected by HPSC have now approached the High Court. The government’s decision to assign teaching duties to new research scholars may prove to be a milestone in favor of these candidates. The candidates have been given yet another strong point to present before the court—those who have repeatedly proven their merit in various national-level examinations have been declared failed and pushed out of the recruitment process. This clearly indicates that the state government and HPSC have deliberately excluded them from recruitment.