Varsity decision on VC selection panel raises eyebrows

Dr Rohini Sivabalan,a member of the management council,said,“By asking the vice-chancellor to appoint a nominee rather than doing it ourselves,we have dishonoured the chancellor’s orders. The chancellor wanted academic heads to come together and take the decision.” Sivabalan,along with four others,has written a note of dissent to the vice-chancellor in this regard.

Tapati Mukhopadhyay,general secretary,Bombay University College Teachers’ Union (BUCTU),said,“The vice-chancellor should not be allowed to exert influence in the selection of new vice-chancellor. The academic and management councils had been given the responsibility of appointing the nominee.”

A recently passed ordinance had revamped the selection procedure for the appointment of the vice-chancellor. According to the ordinance,the selection committee will comprise three members— a member jointly nominated by the management council and academic council,a chancellor-appointed nominee and the secretary of the Higher and Technical education— instead of five. The nominee appointed by the academic and management councils will be a national level academician such as the director of any of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT),Indian Institutes of Management (IIM),Indian Institute of Science (IISC),the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) or any other research institution. The chancellor-appointed nominee would be either a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge,a national eminent researcher or any person who has been awarded a Padma award for his activities in the field of education. The chancellor-appointed nominee will be the chairman of the committee.

The committee will select five eligible candidates for the post of the vice-chancellor. Following this,the state government will discuss with the chancellor and select the university vice-chancellor from among these five candidates. According to the decision taken on Wednesday,Dr Khole will appoint the third member.

The terms of Dr Khole,Pro Vice-Chancellor AD Sawant and Board of College and University Development (BCUD) Director V Magre will end in September 2009.