COEP Tech University to fill 109 vacant teaching posts by end of 2026 after 15-year hiring freeze

Pune: COEP Technological University is set to restart recruitment that has been stalled for about 15 years. The university plans to fill 109 vacant teaching posts by the end of 2026. This has become possible because the Supreme Court has allowed recruitment to vacant posts, provided posts under legal dispute are not touched.

Vice-Chancellor Sunil Bhirud outlined the plan to the media on Tuesday. He said the university has 221 government-sanctioned teaching posts, of which about 109 have been vacant since 2012.

Bhirud said, "We hope to complete the recruitment of 109 teachers by the end of 2026. The Supreme Court has cleared the way for recruitment to vacant posts, so we can now move the process forward without touching the posts under legal dispute."

The stalled recruitment dates to the years between 2007 and 2011. At that time COEP was an autonomous college and it recruited 54 teachers. These appointments were challenged in court. The Bombay High Court ordered the removal of the teachers concerned. They then approached the Supreme Court, which ordered that the status quo be maintained. Regular recruitment was effectively halted as a result.

Unable to make permanent appointments, the university had to depend on teachers hired on contract to keep teaching going. The state government's Higher and Technical Education Department raised the matter in the Supreme Court. The court has now permitted recruitment to the remaining vacant sanctioned posts, on the condition that the 54 disputed posts remain as they are.

COEP has already prepared its reservation roster and has sent the recruitment proposal to the Pune regional office of the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE). Bhirud said the actual recruitment process will begin only after the final approval of the state government.

He said, "As soon as the state government's final approval comes, the university will begin the actual recruitment process."

The university expects the new appointments to reduce its dependence on contract teachers and strengthen its permanent teaching staff.