NUJS Kolkata has put out a notice for 16 permanent new professors (including three full professors and three associate professors), is looking to fill two chair professorship positions in addition to one guest faculty role open to local former judges, making this potentially the first permanent recruitment drive in Salt Lake at least since 2017 and the largest in even long.
They are also the first potential hires under new(ish) vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti.
We reached out to Chakrabarti for comment about the recruitments, and he said that the executive council (EC) had signed off on this call for applicants around December of last year, and that this followed another, smaller round of recruitment of around four or five faculty members in 2017, before he had become VC. Of those, three eventually joined.
The notification had also been published in newspapers, such as the Times of India, so he said he hoped there would be many suitable applicants.
Chakrabarti added that the plan was to “improve the university” from all angles, including infrastructure, research and teaching, which was an additional “new challenge” under Covid-19. He said another priority was how to “make [NUJS] attractive and how we can reach out to students properly”. “We have to very much I think experiment and encourage our faculties to make [online teaching] attractive,” he said.
Part of the backdrop to this improvement drive, is NUJS having been overtaken by NLU Jodhpur in the 2020 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings, where it is now in sixth place.
“In the last NIRF we were not in a good position, so we have to improve our rank also, so that would be our aim also,” said Chakrabarti. “That is my target.”
The open positions notified (download PDF here) include calls for:
- 3 new law professors (in criminal, corporate/business and constitutional law) at the Rs 1.442 lakh per month pay band 14; each should be “eminent scholars” with: (i) a minimum of 10 years of teaching experience (including “outstanding professional[s]" with a PhD that might not have previously held assistant professor+ rank at a university), and (ii) research publications in peer reviewed journals “preferably” listed in UGC CARE or Scopus indexes (see below),
- 3 associate profs (in corporate / business, public and IP law) at the Rs 1.314 lakh pay band 13, with a minimum of eight years teaching experience and seven publications, and
- 10 assistant professors of law, at the 10th pay level equating to Rs 57,700, who must have cleared the UGC’s National Eligibility Test (NET) or a similar UGC test or who have obtained a qualifying PhD allowing exemption from the UGC’s tests (see the fine print in the full notice, below).
Out of the 16 permanent faculty positions, seven are reserved for candidates from scheduled tribes, castes and other backward caste (ST, SC and OBC candidates). All of those were “as per government of West Bengal notification”, explained Chakrabarti.
The application deadline is fairly generous, at 31 August 2020.
If NUJS manages to fill all the positions, this would significantly increase its corpus of faculty, which stands at a total of 44 at the moment, according to Chakrabarti.
The notice follows hot on the heels of NLSIU’s first recruitment call (in more than 10 years) but also under a new VC, resulting in at least nine offers made, including for many alums to return to (what some of them affectionately and/or ironically call) ‘Law School’.
The pay bands offered by NUJS are more or less identical to those in NLSIU’s recruitment call.
We will be exploring some more details on those positions below.
Chair professorships
In addition, NUJS is also looking for candidates to fill two research chair positions, both ads dated 6 July with a tight 20 July deadline.
First, there is the honorary Ford Foundation Research Chair at its Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Studies, which includes a so-called sitting fee of no more than Rs 30,000 per month with up to Rs 10,000 per day.
Previous occupants of the chair include the heavyweights Prof Upendra Baxi and Justice Ruma Pal.
The chair had been empty since around 2018, before he had joined, said Chakrabarti.
One issue with the position had been a “paucity of funds”, which is why there was an effective maximum remuneration and time limit per month on the position, so it would be more of a position to “guide” the research of several other faculty members.
There’s also one call for hires into the Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee Chair for law and social science, named after the legendary barrister, mathematician and freedom fighter, which had been previously occupied by retired Justice Tarun Chatterjee.
The Mukherjee chair position, with a tenure of three years, aims “to promote research in the area of law and social sciences, particularly law and society in West Bengal”, and comes with a honorarium of Rs 50,000 per month, plus research expenses.
Chakrabarti explained that the chair was funded by an endowment by the state of West Bengal.
Guest seat from Menon era
Finally, there is also a position for “guest faculty from retired judicial officer” to teach procedure law and get knee-deep into helping NUJS’ Legal Aid Clinic. Remuneration is Rs 35,000 per month, but unusually it’s only open to “retired judicial officer from West Bengal Higher Judicial Service” who are below 65 years old, which may narrow the field of applicants somewhat.
Chakrabarti said that this requirement and restriction in the chair were historical, having been created during the late Prof Madhava Menon’s time as founding VC of NUJS.
Most recently, it had also been occupied by a retired judge.
The process
While the selection committee for the faculty positions had not yet been set up, besides Chakrabarti himself, every member would be external to the university, he explained.
In addition, while previous recruitments had been carried out by a single selection committee for all posts, this time was different. “Now, as per our decision in executive committee, for each subject there will be a [separate] selection committee,” he said. “Now... the selection committee also has specialisation [in each subject area that candidates are being interviewed for.”
'Number of years' won't determine selection
Many of NLS’ recent offers had been made to young alumni faculty and we had recently reported (young) NLS VC Sudhir Krishnaswamy making statements that young applicants for faculty should also be encouraged at other NLUs.
We asked whether young applicants would be welcomed or whether seniority would be the ultimate arbiter of who got the jobs.
Chakrabarti explained that anyone who satisfied the criteria in the advertisement were eligible, though he was just one member of the selection committee, so ultimately it was not down to him alone but also the other senior professors on the selection committee.
However, he added: “It is not the number of years [that will determine selection]. We are going for a minimum essential criteria, thereafter we will go for merit, and who can... help NUJS to grow.”
“I think anyone, if willing to join, is welcome.”
Fixing the NIRF and other steps forward
Pushing for research
In the last two months there had been a “discernible increase” in NUJS’ Scopus publications, he said. “It is a very hard task but a challenging task that we have started.
“In one or two years, I have the confidence that I will definitely be in a better positions in our publications.”
Research too, would therefore be a priority in the recruitments. “In our recruitment, particularly senior faculty, associate professors and professors, they have to show their research and publications. [We require a] minimum 120 score as per UGC pattern, and for associate professors 75,” he said.
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It is good though, that he has acknowledged the issue isn't entirely because of the NIRF's inexplicable procedures, and there are internal gaps.
Folks don’t come back to the country to just get a pay check - they want to be good at their jobs and make a difference- and if the institutional culture- set by senior professors at an institution- is not conducive to that , it makes sense to leave.
Mrinal and Aparna had other sources of income at NLuD in the form of research grants for their institution- it’s not for certain that nls will be able to give them the same opportunities- they might be asked to teach more which leaves less room for research- they will still take that gamble because they want to be a part of that new institutional culture
1. If you repeat the MP Singh policy of fast-tracking promotions (which got Shamnad and Sudhir to NUJS). But this will never happen with NKC.
2. Someone needs to be in Kolkata for family reasons, which is the case with Saurav Bhattacharya. This may be possible. There are a few NLU alumni who are from Bengal at various think tanks in Delhi, or at JGLS. This has to be the target.
What a tragedy that an institution once headed by Menon, Chimni and MP Singh is now headed by this man.
1. Dr Souvik Chatterjee. He has an LLM from Warwick and an LLM from Case Western. He taught earlier batches at NUJS. He left for NLUJ to head a competition law centre and did his PhD from there. In 2017, he took leave from NLUJ and returned to Kolkata for family reasons, to head a small private law school. His rank there is associate professor, but at NLUJ he remains an assistant professor on leave. Eligible for an associate professor post.
in.linkedin.com/in/dr-souvik-chatterji-84b2598
3. Sujit Kumar Nandy: Also taught earlier batches at NUJS, now teaching at a private law school in Kolkata post retirement. He is a former district court judge and teaches CPC. He was popular among early batches and would be a good hire, but is probably close to 70.
law.adamasuniversity.ac.in/dt_team/mr-sujit-kumar-nandy/
4. Existing faculty at the following law schools in Kolkata and Bengal: St Xavier's Law School, Adamas Law School, Heritage Law School, Hazra Law College, North Bengal University, Visva Bharat University, Burdwan University etc.
5. There are lots of profs from Kolkata at JGLS, none of whom will leave. However, one person has personal issues and may shift.
Why has the SJA become so inactive in questioning the admin?
www.facebook.com/nujsmeterikehkelunga/photos/a.118508778823047/279225829418007/?type=3&theater
www.facebook.com/nujsmeterikehkelunga/photos/a.118508778823047/279252162748707/?type=3&theater
Thus, the students and alumni must lobby the Chancellor to approve this policy and then pressure NKC.
RGNUL does not even have an institutionalized student body and yet
www.barandbench.com/news/lawschools/students-of-rgnul-move-ph-hc-challenging-demand-for-full-semester-fee-covid-19-crisis
RGNUL students ensured that their VC faces inquiry concerning (ab)use of state govt funds. As expected powerful interests will hinder progress. But the students push on without SJA or so-called star alumni members playing a game of favours.
And instead of asking why others aren't doing what they themselves want to be done, why don't they simply go ahead and do the job themselves in real life is of course anybody's guess.
nujs.edu/meetings/ec/47th.pdf (sl. no. 2)
1. LLB and LLM from CU (Surendranath Law College).
2. PhD from North Bengal University
3. A bunch of online certificate courses.
5. Assistant professor at Jogesh Chandra Chaudhury Law College, KIIT and Amity Calcutta campus.
6. Book chapter in a book by North Bengal University Press and another by some company called Manakin Press
7. Articles in journals by Jogesh Chandra Chaudhury Law College, KIIT and North Bengal; one journal called "India International Journal of Juridical Sciences"; one journal called "Indian Human Rights Law Review"; one journal called "Nepal Bar Council Law Journal"; one journal called "The Commonwealth Lawyer".
8. Number of SCOPUS-indexed publications:0
9. Ranking of the above journals in Washington and Lee Rankings: Not ranked.
10. Whether the above journals are indexed in Hein Online: No.
11. Whether the above journals are indexed in JSTOR: No.
12. Whether the above journals are indexed in Westlaw: No.
13. Ranking of the universities publishing the above journals in QS and Times: Not ranked.
www.shambhuprasadchakrabarty.com
www.barandbench.com/news/tushar-mehta-and-vivek-reddy-among-those-nominated-to-the-nlu-delhi-governing-council
Q1. One article is titled "Variations of scalp, pubic and axillary hair". It is for a science journal and co-authored with scientists. I went through the whole article. The authors measure the pubic hair and armpit hair of different men and discuss the properties of glands and follicles. How did NKC become an authority on this subject?
www.jstor.org/stable/41486800
Q2. The other article is co-authored with his PhD student at KIIT and is the subject of the student's thesis. Even NKC's articles in non-Scopus journals are co-authored with his PhD students. Is such co-authorship considered ethical?
sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/7335/4332
1. Email student SBAs for an updated list of faculty + bios + publications. LI readers will then do the required investigations and comparisons.
2. Also ask for details of visiting lecturers who teach elective courses.
3. Name and shame those SBAs who refuse to respond. We will then know that they cheated in NIRF.
And SBAs not responding would amount to them having cheated at NIRF? What kind of weed are you smoking? First, why are they obliged to respond to Kian? Secondly, how many SBAs directly contribute to NIRF data submission? Only a handful at best. Most NLUs have the admin doing that stuff. Thirdly, if you had the slightest idea about the NIRF process, you would have known that NIRF does not ask institutions for a list of faculty publications. They get the names and do their own search. So this 'cheating' that you speak of cannot happen in reality. Ignorance is not a vice, but coupled with the attitude of knowing-it-all, it is dangerous.
Just to show how toxic people's thought process has become here, I keep seeing every day how people who are not from NLU backgrounds are name called, badmouthed, their work and ability being questioned all the while by people who actually have no idea about it. Same goes for people without having a foreign degree in their CV. Every single person who makes these vitriolic judgment calls actually have no idea how education works or is supposed to work, regardless of the degrees they might have. A case in point, I came across a young NLU grad some time back, who despite having all necessary qualifications to get an NLU teaching job, has chosen to work at a small rural college instead. She believes that she can make a difference there and the nearby districts and their schools and colleges by spreading awareness and basic education about rights. Most of her work is voluntary, brings her no recognition, doesn't leave her any time to do higher research or fancy publications in SCOPUS journals that less than 5% people in the legal world actually read. In the eyes of people like you, she would belong to the dregs of legal academia, since she would have none of the spiffy factors that have been deemed by trolls to be considered the only qualifications worth having. Yet she has chosen to do this by letting go of more lucrative, so-called prestigious options. And she's making very small, but incremental and steady difference. To people who are actually educated, her contribution would be considered as much if not more than a 'star NLU faculty' who gives nineteen interviews to the dozen, says all the PC terms, annually publishes papers in SCOPUS indexed journals and always attends the latest conferences. However, neither any existing ranking nor trolls like you would ever be able to capture or realise that. Which is your failure, not anyone else's. Having known Professor Menon personally, I can say with certainty that he would have appreciated what this person has been doing. Your or anyone else's certificates or votes pale into insignificance before that.
www.news18.com/news/india/husband-abducted-killed-in-1999-sc-orders-bccl-to-give-woman-job-rs-2-lakh-in-damages-2723261.html
www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/kolkata-lady-judge-stands-intimidation-tmc-leader
This may explain why NKC and Co bristle at RTIs that ask inconvenient questions and then use institutional strength and obfuscation to frustrate response. Of course they can also count on a thoroughly incompetent and disinterested WBIC and the Info Commissioners who are better known to be regime stooges (as is the case in many other states as well)
Why is NKC and AG so afraid to make the 2017 faculty recruitment scam Inquiry Report public? Since a clean chit has been given and the concerned candidates made "permanent" it is expected that the "inquiry report" must have been through and robust.
The upcoming recruitment will be a sham because opacity reigns supreme.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/bengal-set-to-implement-10-poor-quota-in-edu-institutes/articleshow/77230675.cms
My message to NKC and the TMC gang: you people better behave yourself because we will complain to your expected future boss.
1. Hindu Muslim problem in India can only be solved via civil war.
2. Militants getting killed should have their bodies wrapped in pig skin and sunk into pig excreta so that they don't get houries in afterlife.
3. Boycott all Kashmiris.
4. People protesting human right violations are potential terrorists and intelligence is keeping a close watch on them.
5. Hindus did well in fighting back in Gujarat.
6. Ghulam Ali is a Paki singer who shouldn't be allowed to perform in Kolkata.
If this garbage and vitriol are what comes out of his mind and mouth, then clearly his education has been a waste of taxpayer and his parents' resources. Similarly, his daughter has clearly failed to help him regain sanity despite her own Law School background. People like this are a blight on this nation.
sja.nujs.edu/newsroom/2020/08/19/nujs-setting-the-record-straight-anshuman-panigrahi-batch-of-2021-,-avnish-kumar-singh-batch-of-2021-,-and-balraaj-singh-chhatwal-batch-of-2023#comment-115
Stop being an apologist for NKC.
twitter.com/B_de2002/status/148715169462239232
twitter.com/B_de2002/status/143927067531157504
Among others, Anupama Ghoshal’s father was a TMC MP and she too was a part of the TMC. Then she joined the BJP in a public rally, following TMC defector to the BJP Mukul Roy. However, here recent activities are known to all.
english.kolkata24x7.com/biswa-bangla-a-company-owned-by-abhishek-banerjee-mukul.html/
www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/reaching-out-with-a-touch-of-melody/story-Ka4c1ZmqKWJAXZzMsmXK9O.html
Anyway, my response is this: It was well-know from day 1 that NKC was Mamata's man. He buttered her up on Twitter when the the NUJS VC selection was taking place (see below) and was preferred over VCV even though VCV has a PhD from NLSIU, has taught at NALSAR and has been Dean of the IIT Law School. Furthermore, NKC's recruitment of SPC and the fiasco with the so-called Covid "journal" issue has lowered the reputation of the college. Just wait: the faculty recruitment will be a total sham and is being done before the Bengal elections in case Mamata loses. TMC cadre from CU, North Bengal etc will be recruited.
i.imgur.com/ocSWzWp.png
i.imgur.com/kmdEY5l.png
Quote:
www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/nlsiu-not-a-state-enterprise-model-institution-set-up-bci
www.news18.com/news/buzz/sunny-leone-makes-it-to-merit-list-again-qualifies-for-english-honours-in-bengal-college-this-time-2832407.html
www.ndtv.com/india-news/former-porn-star-tops-bengal-college-list-sunny-leone-spotted-again-2287412
indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/music/neha-kakkar-figures-in-bengal-college-merit-list-6576415/lite/?__twitter_impression=true
www.sangbadpratidin.in/bengal/crayon-shin-chans-name-in-siliguri-college-merit-list/
As for NUJS, the rank list is thankfully determined by a central body, but faculty recruitments can easily be influenced by the state. More so when the current SJA is both spineless and divided.
The SJA did not challenge the constitutionality of the arbitrary imposition of 30% domicle quota by Mamta. CLAT aspirants have showed the way. If the verdict just like NLSIU Domicile reseravtion, goes in favour of aspirants it would be slap in the face of the SJA at NUJS and obviously retain the diverse culture at the university with more students from different parts of the nation.
- Left MP Bikash Bhattacharya (Senior Advocate, appeared for victims of TMC atrocities).
- Justice AK Ganguly (was chair of Bengal Human Rights Commission, close to Left and anti-Mamata: let bygones be bygones).
- Vikramjit Banerjee (has an LLM in human rights, used to teach at NUJS in early days).
- Madhavi Divan (originally from Kolkata, has an academic bent)
www.nujs.edu/downloads/ford-foundation-chair-nujs-08092020.pdf
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