P Chidambaram writes: Vice chancellors will become viceroys

Under the present dispensation, governors are political appointees rewarded for loyalty to the RSS/BJP’s ideology or trusted retired civil servants. In Opposition-ruled states, the governor is instructed to act as the Viceroy of the central government and to shackle the state government. In effect, there is a Dyarchy in the states: the elected government and the unelected governor

The states must repudiate the draft regulations and fight, politically and legally, to defeat the nationalisation of Indian universities. Teachers and students must protest.

Written by: P Chidambaram

5 min readJan 12, 2025 09:39 AM IST First published on: Jan 12, 2025 at 07:00 AM IST

Practically all governments crave more power and make laws to give themselves more control and more authority. It is because the rulers believe they alone know what is good for the country and the people. Some individuals have the same complex. It is called the ‘saviour’ (or messiah) complex. It is a psychological construct that leads one to believe that he or she must ‘fix’ all the problems and ‘save’ the people. In its extreme manifestation it may lead to the delusion that he or she was not born biologically but “God has sent me”.

Tucked away in the inside pages of newspapers on January 7, 2025 was the news story headlined UGC revises guidelines for appointments of V-Cs. The subject matter was the selection process of vice chancellors of universities. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued draft Regulations and has invited comments.

Broad-based & Collegial

Presently, in most Acts authorising the establishment of one or more Universities, the governor of the state is made the chancellor. In some Acts that established central universities, the President is the visitor. The governor, invariably, was a long-retired political leader of eminence or a distinguished citizen. The governor was expected to, and would, function constitutionally. The current Regulations provide for a search-cum-selection committee that will include a nominee each of the governor, state government, senate of the university and syndicate of the university. The search-cum-selection committee was broad-based and democratic. Though the final selection was by the chancellor/governor, in the past, the governor ordinarily acted on the ‘aid and advice’ of the state government. That practice, unfortunately, was buried in the last decade and governors have appointed vice chancellors in their sole discretion.

Times have changed — for the worse. Under the present dispensation, governors are political appointees rewarded for loyalty to the RSS/BJP’s ideology or trusted retired civil servants. In Opposition-ruled states, the governor is instructed to act as the Viceroy of the central government and to shackle the state government. In effect, there is a Dyarchy in the states: the elected government and the unelected governor. The ‘aid and advice’ clause in the Constitution of India has been thrown to the wind.

Creeping Dyarchy

Witness governors refusing to read the whole or parts of the Address to the Legislative Assembly prepared, by convention, by the state government. Witness the governor publicly criticising the state government, especially the chief minister. Witness the governor summoning the chief secretary or the police chief and issuing instructions to them by-passing the chief minister. Witness the governor embarking upon a tour of the state to ‘review’ the district administrations and hold ‘discussions’ with the district officials. Dyarchy is entrenching itself, especially in Opposition-ruled states, in contravention of the provisions of the Constitution. [in the case of BJP-ruled states, the state government is totally subordinate to the central government and there is usually a minister or a senior officer who is the ‘eyes and ears’ of the prime minister and conveys the decisions of the prime minister to the chief minister.]

Section 22 of the UGC Act stipulates that a ‘degree’ means any such degree as specified by the UGC and can be granted only by a university established by an Act. The new draft regulations prescribe the mode of search-cum-selection and appointment of a vice chancellor: it will be through a 3-member committee comprising a nominee each of the chancellor, UGC and the apex body (Syndicate/ Senate/Board of Management) of the university. The committee shall prepare a panel of 3-5 names and the chancellor shall appoint one of them. If a university violated the regulations, it will be debarred from offering degree programmes or participating in UGC schemes, removed from the list of universities under the UGC Act, and subject to other punitive action. In effect, the educational institution will cease to be a ‘university’. Note that the state government has no role at all in the selection and appointment of the vice chancellor. The vice chancellor will become the Viceroy of the UGC whose chairperson and members are appointed, and may be removed, by the central government.

Nationalisation of Universities

Two Viceroys, vetted for ideological purity, will be in place to administer a university — the governor/chancellor and the vice chancellor. The draft regulations, if notified, will usurp the rights of the state government that had established the university for the benefit of the residents of the state and funds the university out of the state’s own resources. The draft regulations virtually nationalise the universities and the messiah will take control of all higher education institutions (HEIs) of the country. It is another example of galloping centralisation in line with the BJP’s policy of ‘One Nation, One Government’. It is a blatant attack on federalism and states’ rights.

The states must repudiate the draft regulations and fight, politically and legally, to defeat the nationalisation of Indian universities. Teachers and students must protest. Beware, once Dyarchy is entrenched in all aspects of public administration, it will be only a matter of time before Dyarchy will give way to Monarchy or an absolute ruler.