ALIGARH Muslim University has shortlisted its prestigious Women’s College principal for the job of Vice Chancellor — she could become the university’s first woman V-C — but the selection process has invited complaints and questions of propriety and conflict of interest. For, her husband chaired the meeting that included her in the list. On October 30, the 27-member Executive Council (EC), the university’s highest decision-making body, chose five names of the 20 eligible — there were a total of 36 applicants for the post of V-C. In the shortlist of five, is Naima Khatoon Gulrez, wife of acting V-C Prof Mohammad Gulrez. A PhD in psychology from AMU, she was appointed as a lecturer in the same department in 1988, before being elevated as professor in 2006. She continued there before joining as principal of the Women's College in 2014. Apart from Khatoon, the other names recommended by the EC are: legal scholar and former V-C of Nalsar, Hyderabad, Faizan Mustafa; biochemist and V-C of Srinagar’s Cluster University Qayyum Husain; noted cardiologist and AMU professor M U Rabbani; and Jamia management professor Furqan Qamar. Of the 27 members of the EC, 20 showed up for the October 30 meeting, and, sources said, 19 – including the acting V-C – voted. It is learnt that Mustafa got nine votes; Khatoon and Husain got eight votes each while Rabbani and Qamar got seven each. This list of five was sent to the AMU Court, a 193-member body - there are 94 vacancies - that includes 10 MPs and five Vistor’s nominees. The AMU Court will then prune the EC’s shortlist to a set of three and send it to the President of India who, as Visitor of the University, will pick the final one. Minutes of the EC meeting, reviewed by The Indian Express, show that one of the EC members did suggest to the acting V-C Gulrez that he may abstain from voting since his wife is a candidate, and another member concurred with this view. To this, the minutes state, the "Chair (acting V-C) responded that there was no conflict of interest." When contacted by The Indian Express, Prof Mohammad Gulrez suggested that because he wasn’t a candidate, there was no problem. He cited a Department of Higher Education order: "In case the Vice-Chancellor or any other Member(s) of the Executive Council who are desirous to be the candidates for the post of the Vice-Chancellor, attend such meeting of the Executive Council, they shall be deemed to be disqualified as candidates for the post of the Vice-Chancellor". He said that, hence, there was no need to recuse himself and there is no conflict of interest. "One of the elected EC members has also given a statement to the media on camera wherein he categorically stated that there was no conflict of interest involved. More so, it is an established principle in the eyes of law that the husband and wife are legally independent," he said. Naima Khatoon Gulrez, when contacted, said, “There is nothing wrong with it. Circulars of the Department of Education clearly state that if the V-C himself is a nominee, he has to recuse himself, but there is nothing about the spouse or any other relative of the V-C in those circulars. All these circulars were read before the EC before taking a decision.” Indeed, Clause-6 of Chapter-V of AMU Ordinances (Executive) bars a selection committee member from participating in the voting process if 15 of their listed relatives are in contention but these do not mention a spouse (wife or husband). Naima, who is an ex-officio member of the EC, added, “I did not attend the meeting.” Her selection for the shortlist has been opposed by an applicant whose name was not chosen and by a former member of the AMU Court. In a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, Prof Mujahid Beg, one of the 36 applicants, whose name was not picked by the EC, called for setting aside the panel and “re-initiate the process’ afresh. “Surprisingly the V-C not only chaired the meeting of the EC but also voted for his wife. Another blow to free and fair elections…The V-C did not declare his impartiality in respect of the candidates, so as to dispel any justifiable doubt about his independence and the impartiality of the proceedings, as his own wife is one of the candidates staking her claim for the post of Vice-Chancellor." When contacted, Beg confirmed he had written to the Visitor, Department of Education and the UGC but declined to comment. Said a university official close to Gulrez: “A woman V-C will be historic…even if her husband hadn’t voted for her, she would have been among the top five.” However, in a letter to the AMU Court, a former member, Anwaruddin Khan, said the body should “reject this panel and order the EC to form another panel of five candidates with transparency and in accordance with the AMU Act and Representation of Peoples Act”.
