GLC omits veteran visiting professors from July timetable | India News
MUMBAI: The 170-year-old Government Law College (GLC), which boasts a distinguished adjunct faculty of senior advocates and solicitors with decades of teaching experience, has not invited these seasoned professors to deliver lectures this year — at least not so far. Leading names such as Homer Pithawala, who taught at the college for the past 53 years and taught several sitting judges, including CJIs, along with Shamim Dalvi and Kishu Daswani, with years of experience, were omitted from the July lecture timetable.This is despite a governing council decision to retain these senior adjunct professors by re-designating them as professors emeritus, alongside new appointments of adjunct faculty. Moreover, lectures in the subjects taught by these experts have not taken place for over a month, resulting in anacademic loss for students, alleged a section of the visiting faculty. Some of these teachers said they inquired with the college for over a month about the lectures but failed to get a positive response. “We are concerned about students’welfare and are worried about a loss of one month of their semester. August has multiple public holidays and the exams are scheduled in Nov,” said a teacher.“Since these are adjunct positions, we are appointed for a period of one year, which is extended every year. Many times, lectures are allotted to us without an executive order, and we start teaching, and the appointment letter comes in the middle of the year. This time, the timetables do not mention our names. And we all are doing it for the passion of teaching and not for monetary gains. In fact, the college has not paid us for the last eight to 10 months,” said another teacher. The six adjunct faculty names also included Iqbal Panjwani, Sunita Masani, Rooprekha Chhabria.Another official said the governing council had decided to redesignate these teachers as professors emeritus and continue with their lectures. Additionally, they had decided that new adjunct faculty members will be appointed through a selection process to manage the workload, said the official, adding that who would want to deny students the expertise that these senior faculty members bring in. The official said the decision was taken after an issue was raised about the workload.Principal Asmita Vaidya,however, said that the allegations are baseless and defamatory. She said she has been implementing the decision taken by the governing council, adding that adjunct faculty members will go through a performance review and interview process before the appointments. “The govt also appointed 10 full-time teachers, filling some of the posts, which was a long-term requirement,” she said, adding that there is a lot of time to complete the lectures and that the governing council will decide on adjunct faculty appointments. “First-year admissions have not yet started, and the lectures in senior classes are conducted smoothly,” she said.
