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Journalism of Courage
At the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) in Pune, it was “the day’s work as usual” on Friday, with classes being held and “there being no reason to get affected” by the latest round of possible leadership changes. Under the calm, however, there is tension about the office of the chancellor. Sanjeev Sanyal, a Delhi-based economist who had been appointed as chancellor in October 2024, was removed by trustees this month, a decision that is being challenged by the interim vice-chancellor Shankar Das.
“As per UGC rules, the chancellor cannot be removed even by the appointing authority. He has been given a contract that cannot be terminated even by the issuing authority. There are guidelines to remove the V-C but not the chancellor. So, in this absence, the contract has to be respected,” said a GIPE faculty member. About the Servants of India Society (SIS), GIPE’s parent body, which has removed Sanyal, the faculty member added, “SIS cannot do that. He is not at your mercy. We are guided by UGC norms. Even if they have sent a letter, the chancellor cannot be removed.”
SIS, however, is sticking to its stance. “A new chancellor has been appointed, and we have communicated that to the UGC and the institute as well,” said Milind Deshmukh, secretary of SIS. About the UGC rule preventing a chancellor from being removed, he added, “There is no such rule. The appointing authority is the society and even the removing authority is the society.”
Damodar Sahoo, president of SIS, said, “We had great hopes from Sanyal, but he was not giving any time to look after the management. He should have visited Gokhale Institute once a week, a fortnight or a month to see what was happening. During this period, the institute’s reputation went down. GIPE was a reputable institute not only in India but all over the world. The V-C appointed by the chancellor also did not respond properly to look after the day-to-day running of the institute. So, the society took a decision for the betterment of the institute.”
“SIS had pointed out that there were some irregular appointments that were happening. He did not respond to that. The institute has also been accredited ‘B’ grade of NAAC and there is no concrete plan from his side. There was no concern being shared. Gokhale Institute is a renowned institute and being reduced to the B grade was not acceptable to most members. The issue was discussed in the executive council of the society on April 1. With due procedure of consent from all the executive members of the SIS, the decision to remove was taken. The decision has been conveyed to authorities concerned and everything is in proper order,” said Deshmukh. At the same session, a resolution was passed to replace Sanyal with Justice SC Dharmadhikari, a retired Judge of the Bombay High Court.
Meanwhile, Das, who has written a letter opposing the removal said, “We are trying to figure out how to process this. All the top universities are regulated by UGC and the Ministry of Education. GIPE is a deemed university. It is definitely under the government of India’s regulation. We need to maintain that for sure. At this moment, I’m not very sure how this has happened so hastily and very abruptly. We have to really wait and see what guidance we get from the UGC.”
Das said he comes to Pune every Friday and spends the entire day and Saturday looking after the running of GIPE. “I have a very high regard for this 95-year-old institution. I have a high regard for academic rigor, good institutional output, students’ happiness being related to their studies and finally the job placement,” he said.
About the criticism about GIPE having slipped in the NAAC grading, Das said, “The accreditation takes place for five years, evaluated from June 2018 to June 2024. Neither I nor Mr Sanyal was there. We took over very recently. How are we responsible for the accreditation? That means the institute was not performing well. That’s the reason we came, and we are doing so well.”
He added, “I am, as an interim VC, not leaving any stone unturned. My focus was making this institute a multi-disciplinary campus. This is my first priority. I am now working on it.”
Das said he was “surprised to know that the strength of the faculty member is very scanty”. “I have worked very vehemently to try to recruit people on absolutely government of India standard mandates. I was working on the student-to-faculty ratio and student happiness on campus. I was working on all of it,” he said.
“Dharmadhikari’s family tradition is Gandhian, which is aligned with the fact that Gopal Krishna Gokhale’s shishya was Mahatma Gandhi. Over the last 95 years, the tradition of Gokhale-Gandhian thinking has been established at GIPE. Nowadays, the research work and academic work at GIPE seems to have collapsed. So, we feel that Dharmadhikari will improve things,” says Milind Deshmukh, secretary of SIS, the parent body of GIPE.
Justice Dharmadhikari was born in 1960 to a family of lawyers. His father was the late Justice C S Dharmadhikari. Justice S C Dharmadhikari studied LLB at Bombay University before becoming an advocate in 1983. According to the Bombay High Court, he has “handled almost all types of Civil and Constitutional cases including service matters and election petitions. Represented leading banks, financial institutions, corporate houses and multinational firms as well.” He became a judge of the Bombay High Court on November 14, 2003. He was to retire in January 2022, but in a move that surprised many, demitted office in February 2020 citing personal reasons.
What would be interesting for students would be that Justice Dharmadhikari enjoys table tennis, cricket, reading and writing. He was a member of the Managing Committee of the High Court Library for several years. Among his other activities was working for leprosy eradication.
