UTM Union Exposing 2 Shady Recruitment, Fair Investigation Requested

The University of Technology Employees’ Union (UTMEU) has recently raised concerns about alleged discrimination and injustice in the ongoing recruitment processes within the institution.

Two months ago, the UTMEU had directly contacted the Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, and the Minister of Education, Leela Devi Dookun-Lutchoomun, to strongly denounce the shortcomings and irregularities observed in recent personnel appointments. Changes are still awaited.

Since March, the president of the UTMEU, Vikash Seewsagur, had written a letter to the Prime Minister and the Education Minister, highlighting serious dysfunctions in the job allocation processes at the higher education institution.

Two months later, with no visible changes and failed attempts at dialogue with the UTM management, the union has identified two recruitment cases at the university that require a thorough investigation.

Misinterpretation of the Scheme of Service:

The first case sheds light on accusations regarding the recruitment process for the position of Administrative Officer at the UTM.

According to the union, some employees, despite their qualifications and experience for the position, were unfairly excluded from the selection process in favor of external applicants, due to a misinterpretation of the Scheme of Service.

This arbitrary interpretation, deemed unfair by the union, jeopardizes the careers of qualified candidates and raises concerns about the fairness of recruitment practices at the UTM.

The union is therefore calling for an immediate suspension of the selection process for the Administrative Officer position until a clear and authorized interpretation of the Scheme of Service is obtained from the Ministry of Public Service.

Another controversy involves the rejection of a long-serving employee’s application for the Systems Engineer position due to alleged deficiencies at Level A.

This decision, deemed unfair, went against government guidelines from 2012, according to the UTMEU.

The union pointed out that these 2012 government guidelines state that the highest qualifications should be taken into account for appointments.

The union denounced a violation of established standards by the government circular, highlighting deficiencies in the appointment process and failures in the application of qualification criteria.

Hence, its call for intervention from the authorities to ensure fairness in the recruitment process.

Investigation into these controversial recruitment cases at the UTM demanded.

Faced with allegations of discriminatory practices and unfair treatment, the union is calling on the highest authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into these controversial recruitment cases at the UTM.

Transparency and impartiality are requested to ensure fairness and justice in the selection processes within the institution.

It remained to be seen how the authorities will respond to these accusations and if corrective measures will be taken to ensure respect for employee rights and transparency in recruitment procedures at the UTM.

Source: Le Mauricien