A member of the search-cum-selection committee had submitted a dissent note on Dr Rajendra Khimani's selection as Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith (deemed-to-be-university) in Ahmedabad, says the minutes of a University Grants Commission (UGC) meeting to consider a four-member panel’s report to look into the appointment. However, the dissent note has gone missing from the records. The UGC meeting was held on November 25 last year “to consider the report of the UGC-formed four-member committee constituted to look into the issue of appointment of Dr Rajendra Khimani as Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith”. “I did not agree with Dr Rajendra Khimani's name since the Central Vigilance Commission-directed UGC inquiry is pending against him. The last meeting of the committee was held on June 28, 2021, and I had conveyed my dissent. Despite that, the Chancellor took an immediate decision and declared Dr Khimani as the Vice-Chancellor on June 29, 2021, which looks some fishy decision,” stated the letter received by the Ministry of Education from Prof Navin Sheth, Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Technological University (GTU). Sheth was the Central government's nominee in the search-cum-selection panel. Sheth stated in his letter that five meetings were held by the committee and 19 applications were scrutinised. "After thorough discussion, the committee members agreed on two candidates—Prof Nisheeth Chhotalal Desai and Dr Sanjay Raghuvir Chaudhary for the panel." Yet, Khimani was appointed as the VC. However, the minutes of the meetings were not attached with the documents provided to the UGC. The Gujarat Vidyapith also informed the UGC that 23 applications were received but failed to inform whether the selection was done after due interaction with the candidates. The dissent came to light when Sheth wrote to the Ministry of Education highlighting his dissent. The ministry, in turn, forwarded the letter to the UGC following which the statutory body formed a four-member committee, comprising Central University of Punjab VC Prof RP Tiwari, former VC of the Central University of South Bihar Prof HCS Rathore, former National Law India University Bhopal VC Prof Balraj Chauhan and UGC joint secretary Dr Archana Thakur to inquire Dr Khimani's appointment. The committee found many lapses in the selection process. "The advertisement did not mention the qualifications and other requirements as per UGC Regulations for the Vice-Chancellor. Also, the deemed-to-be-university also failed to provide as to how these three names shortlisted by the search committee were recommended. It is not clear whether the selected candidate fulfill the qualifications required for a VC under UGC Regulations," the committee noted on the basis of records provided by the Registrar of Gujarat Vidyapith. The committee, which held three meetings, also corroborated Sheth's claims. "It is also surprising that the Chancellor selected the candidate against whom one member dissented. It is to mention here that the other two names in the list were recommended by all the three members," the committee submitted. The committee also "failed to find any note or supportive documents such as the dissent note, educational qualifications of the candidates criteria adopted by the search-cum-selection committee and how the panel was prepared. An important fact is that the expert who dissented was the only external expert in the committee unrelated to the university". "It was also informed by the Registrar of Gujarat Vidyapith that there was no dissent note on record of the sealed documents submitted by the search-cum-selection committee. This is more surprising that in spite of the fact that the dissent was put (forward) by the government nominee in the minutes of the search-cum-selection committee, the Chancellor or the deemed-to-be-university administration did not bother to inquire about it from the government nominee,” the minutes of the panel's meeting reveal. ".it appears that the Hon'ble Chancellor has not acted fairly during the whole process and was in a hurry to appoint one particular person as Vice-Chancellor ignoring the dissent note of the government of India nominee," the committee report stated.
