Ajit Ranade terminated from post of VC of GIPE

Ajit Ranade was appointed for a period of five years by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairperson at NITI Aayog and the Institute’s then Chancellor.

Ajit Ranade assumed charge as the Vice Chancellor on February 4, 2022 (File Photo).

5 min readPuneSep 14, 2024 11:48 PM IST First published on: Sep 14, 2024 at 10:35 PM IST

Economist and political analyst Dr. Ajit Ranade was terminated as the Vice Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) as of Saturday afternoon. He was issued a termination letter by Chancellor, Bibek Debroy after a fact finding committee found that his candidature does not conform to the established norms set forth by the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.

Some students and staff of GIPE had first approached Kaustubh Patil, advocate of Bombay High Court one and a half years ago to fight against Ranade’s appointment. Advocate Patil stated that the appointment of Ajit Ranade as Vice-Chancellor was in violation of UGC rules. According to UGC guidelines, a Vice-Chancellor must have at least 10 years of experience as a professor in a recognized university or academic institution or in administrative educational institutions. Patil maintained that Dr. Ranade does not meet these criteria. Chancellor Debroy had set-up a Fact-Finding Committee (FFC) to examine the Show Cause Notice issued to Ranade by the former Chancellor, Dr. Rajiv Kumar on June 27, 2024. The FCC recommended removal of Ranade from his position, following which Debroy issued a termination letter.

The FFC has had several meetings, including a physical meeting at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), Pune on September 13 and heard Ranade’s defence. The FFC recommendation as quoted in the termination letter to Ranade stated, “’The Committee, after careful consideration, is of the opinion that Dr. Ajit Ranade’s candidature does not conform to the established norms set forth by the. University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines. It is, therefore, legally untenable for him to continue in the role of Vice-Chancellor, as his appointment fails to meet the requisite legal and regulatory criteria for such a position. Consequently, the Committee strongly recommends the removal of Dr. Ajit Ranade from his position as Vice-Chancellor of GIPE, Pune.”

In June, GIPE had issued a show cause notice to Ranade for allegations of misrepresentation and unacceptable conduct. In the notice Ranade was accused of suppressing material information at the time of his appointment, including falsifying requisite qualifications, wilfully misrepresenting facts to the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Government of India, and the Government of Maharashtra, creating frivolous posts within the institute, resulting in substantial financial mismanagement”.

While Ranade had not responded to the show cause notice on time, later speaking at a press conference he had said, “I did not submit my bio-data (for the position of V-C). I was invited by the search and selection committee and, after that, I submitted my bio-data,”.

A former GIPE faculty member Murali Krishna had filed an RTI with the UGC that there was a violation of regulations in the appointment of Ranade as V-C. On January 15, a letter from UGC was addressed to the then GIPE chancellor Rajiv Kumar.

“We repeatedly brought this matter to the Institute’s attention. However, the administration of Gokhale Institute has not taken any appropriate action. On September 11, at a press conference, we demanded criminal action against Dr. Ranade and the selection committee. Otherwise we were going to protest the visit of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at GIPE’s convocation on October 5 by waving black flags. This escalated the procedure”.

Ranade had assumed charge as the Vice Chancellor on February 4, 2022. He was appointed for a period of five years by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairperson at NITI Aayog and the Institute’s then Chancellor.

Ranade for 18 years till February 2022 had served as the President and Chief Economist at the Aditya Birla Group. Patil, who represents the protesting members of GIPE said, “Those heading the protests against Ranade allege that Ranade was financial advisor of many MNCs. He was appointed so through that medium the ruling party would benefit financially”.

Patil said, “Just termination is not enough, the people who had favoured him hold important positions in the central government. Especially Rajiv kumar, who was the Chancellor before Debroy. He is the vice chairman of NITI Ayog, of which the chairperson is the Prime Minister. The committee which appointed Ranade involved names, Mahendra Dev, who till 2022 was the Director and Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. Dev was an intellectual friend of Ranade, so Servants of India Society had issued a letter of conflict of interest to UGC before Ranade’s appointment.

The letter written by Servants of India Society to Dr. Rajiv Kumar in 2021, read, “We, the trustee of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), want to bring the following facts to your notice: It is learnt that Dr. Ajit Ranade and Prof. Abhay Pethe have been invited for interviews for the post of Vice Chancellor of GIPE. In fact, both of them are members of the Board of Management, the highest decision-making Body. Also, they have proposed the name of Prof. Mahendra Dev as a member of the Search-Cum-Selection Committee, and therefore their participation in the entire process of selection of VC as candidate would amount to conflict of interest. It is absolutely unethical and morally inappropriate”, said the letter.

In light of his termination, Ranade said, “This is truly unfortunate and a shocking decision. For the past two and half years, I have been working diligently and to the best of my ability, contributing to positive developments in the institute. These results seem to have been completely ignored”.