UGC panel seeks to curb AMU say in picking its Vice-Chancellor

The audit report, submitted to the University Grants Commission (UGC) recently, has suggested that AMU should no longer be an exception and follow the process adopted by its counterparts.

For most central universities, the V-C is appointed through a competitive process. Applications are invited via a public advertisement, and are then screened by a government-appointed selection committee. The committee usually shortlists a panel of three names and forwards it to the HRD Ministry. The President appoints one of these three finalists as the V-C.

According to a member of the audit committee, who spoke to The Sunday Express on condition of anonymity, the report has also flagged the culture of “inbreeding” in AMU, under which a majority of faculty appointments are of former students of the university. “There should be a rule that ensures a gap year or a cooling-off period before an AMU alumnus is immediately absorbed as a teacher,” said a panel member.

That apart, the committee has also called for more transparency in the university’s functioning. One of the ways to achieve this is to follow the policy of self-disclosure under the Right to Information Act, the member said.

The audit report has made close to 15 suggestions to improve the functioning of the university. According to sources, the UGC hasn’t taken any decision on the recommendations as it is waiting for other audit reports to be submitted.

The UGC has ordered an audit of 10 central universities, at the behest of the HRD Ministry, to probe complaints of financial, administrative and academic irregularities.

The higher education regulator set up five committees on April 25 to conduct an “academic, research, financial and infrastructure audit” of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Pondicherry University, Allahabad University, Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand, Central University of Jharkhand, Central University of Rajasthan, Central University of Jammu, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya in Wardha, University of Tripura and Hari Singh Gour University in Madhya Pradesh.

AMU and Pondicherry University were inspected by a panel with IIT Madras professor Shripad Karmalkar, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University V-C Kailash Sodani, Gauhati University professor Mazhar Asif and professor Sankarshan Basu from IIM Bangalore as members.