200 UoP colleges without principals

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court had ordered both the government and universities to fill vacant posts of principals in the state before May 31,2009. Around 60 educational institutes in the state had moved the Supreme Court seeking more time. Following this,around five months back,the apex court had extended the deadline to May 31,2010.

As per the court order,if these colleges fail to appoint full-time principals by May 31,2010,they won’t be allowed to admit fresh students for the next academic year.

J S Saharia,principal secretary,higher and technical education,said the onus will be on varsities if colleges fail to appoint full-time principals. “It is the duty of the university to monitor these issues. We will continue to remind varsities in the state to take action,but finally it will be the varsities that will have to make the colleges appoint full-time principals,” he said.

Officiating vice-chancellor of the University of Pune,Arun Adsool,said the varsity had been taking steps in this regard and would make the colleges appoint full-time principals soon.

There were around 300 colleges affiliated to UoP that were without heads until last year. After repeated reminders by the varsity in the wake of the Bombay High Court order,around 100 colleges appointed full-time heads. However,the process slowed down after the deadline was extended.

According to a senior officer of the academic section of the university,many colleges had asked for a UoP selection panel to interview candidates but even after that,they failed to actually appoint the heads. “There are some colleges in Ahmednagar and Nashik district established 10 years ago that never had principals. They haven’t even asked for a selection panel to appoint principals,” he said.

In the recent senate meeting,the varsity administration,in a written answer to a query by a member,had said that 292 colleges had asked for a selection panel to appoint principals but only 99 actually appointed the principals.