More than two-and-a-half months after the eight out of the 24 trustees of Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad resigned over appointment of Governor Acharya Devvrat the Chancellor of the university, four new trustees were appointed Monday. The decision was taken in a meeting of the board of trustees of Gujarat Vidyapith Monday after an award ceremony in which educationist and writer Mansukh Salla was given the Mahadev Desai Samaj Sewa Award 2022. The four new trustees are industrialist Gafurbhai Bilakhia, philanthropist Rajshree Birla, former state information commissioner Dilip Thaker and Vice Chancellor of Indian Institute of Teachers Education (IITE) Gandhinagar Harshad Patel. Confirming the development, Gujarat Vidyapith Vice Chancellor Dr Rajendra Khimani told The Indian Express, “The decision was taken in a meeting today.” However, on the appointment of remaining four trustees, he said, “No decision has been taken on that as of now.” Among the new trustees, Gafur Bilakhia, a Gandhian settled in Vapi, was awarded Padma Shri in 2020 for his work in the field of trade and industry, Rajashree Birla was awarded the Padma Bhushan in area of social work in 2011. Rajashree Birla spearheads the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, the Group’s apex body for development projects, and is working in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sector since decades. The appointment of these new trustees is also done keeping in mind the repeated claims of fund crunch made by the Gujarat Vidyapith authorities citing non-release of funds by the Centre . Harshad Patel is also a Chancellor-nominated member of Board of Management at Gujarat Vidyapith since April 1, 2022. Eight out of 24 trustees of the Vidyapith had resigned on October 17 last year, hours before the 68th annual convocation of the university, citing “unethical use of power” for the appointment of Devvrat as Chancellor, stating that it was “under crass political pressure” and appealed to the Governor to “uphold democratic values” by declining the offer. According to sources, among among those four resigned, the term — of three years — of four trustees, Dr Sudarshan Iyangar, Mandaben Parikh, Michael Mazgaonkar and Kapil Shah, had already expired a couple of days after they resigned. “However, following the meeting on October 4, 2022 we were given an extension of another three years on October 17, 2022,” Dr Mandaben Parikh told The Indian Express. The eight trustees who resigned barely a day before the annual convocation were Dr Sudarshan Iyangar, Dr Anamik Shah, Mandaben Parikh, Uttambhai Parmar, Chaitanya Bhatt, Neetaben Hardikar, Michael Mazgaonkar and Kapil Shah. Following the resignation of eight trustees, Vidyapith had announced that their resignation had not been accepted as after discussions a resolution was passed with majority on the same day not to accept the resignation of these eight trustees. Also, efforts were being made to resolve the issue through talks and convince them to take back their resignation but nothing materialised. “There was one to one meeting held by other trustees with us who had resigned. But nothing emerged out of that as we did not take our stand. Since the situation remained unchanged, there was no point of taking back the resignation,” Dr Mandaben Parikh said. On the four new trustees, she said, “We are not happy with the development. This is a part of the larger plan.” The eight resigned trustees in a joint statement had said that “appointment of the Chancellor was rushed through, not by consensus but by a badly fractured vote” adding that “Gandhi’s philosophy cannot be reduced to mere natural farming, cattle breeding or nature cure”. As per the Gujarat Vidyapith rules, it has a total 25 trustees including five life time trustee members. However, at present there is only one lifetime member- Narsinhbhai Hathila. The trustees from the teachers and Vidyapith employees are appointed for a term of two years while from outside for a period of three years. Following his joining as Chancellor, Governor Devvrat had been visiting the campus, holding meetings with authorities, faculty members and students. He was also lately seen as undertaking a cleanliness campaign by getting rid of tonnes of debris and garbage from the campus.
