Documentation Officers, who are they?

In India, there is a lot of confusion prevails upon the designation Documentation Officers. Actually, in most library set-ups, (including the one where the contributor is working) they are performing jobs of Assistant Librarians in addition to handling some specialised services. The very purpose of creating this post seems to be different as the posts are created only in selected advanced research centres, or in university departments recognised as doing advanced research in their concerned fields. However, the confusion persists when it comes to assessment and eligibility criteria for different posts. Several pay commissions (including the present Sixth Pay Commission) do not clearly spell out the promotional avenues for documentation officers, they simply state Assistastant Librarians. Though in practice, most the universities and institutes treat the two posts as same and equivalent, but that leaves some scope for misinterpretation by individual univesities or research institutions. For example, if some university advertises for post of deputy librarian, they may state ''five years' experience as assistant librarian", and may not consider documentation officers even for the interview. One more example is the eligibility conditions for appointment as documentation officers. I know many universities where for post of documentation officers exists, the emphasis is put more upon the masters' degree in some other subject, and less on MLIS, at the time of recruitment. Thus, the time has come for the University Grants Commission to clearly spell out the eligibility criteria and promotional avenues of documentation officers, otherwise, they may succumb to different other types of discriminatory acts. This may happen even though the nature of job performed by documentation officers is more academic compared to assistant librarians in most of the organisations.