Appointment of VCs: Nitish calls on Governor to defuse row

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar called on Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday. amid the standoff between the Raj Bhawan and the state’s department of education, both of whom have issued separate advertisements seeking applications for the post of vice chancellors for state universities.

A statement from the Raj Bhawan said the Governor and the CM discussed higher education and the issues concerning the universities to resolve them. The meeting lasted around half an hour.

According to officials familiar with the matter, the Raj Bhawan has initiated the process for appointment of VCs in keeping with the state’s continued practice and applications have already been received to start the next process.

The secretariat of Governor (Chancellor) had earlier issued an advertisement inviting applications for the post of VCs in Patna University, Lalit Narayan Mithila University (Darbhanga), Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University (Muzaffarpur), Jai Prakash University (Chapra), BN Mandal University (Madhepura) and Aryabhatta Knowledge University (Patna).

On Tuesday, the education department invited applications for only five, leaving the last two.

The terms and conditions for the posts are almost the same in both advertisements, except the last date for submission of applications.

According to a circular by the chancellor’s secretariat, the date for submission of applications for the post in seven universities is between August 24 and 27 while the last date in the education department’s advertisement is September 13.

“The ongoing process of the Raj Bhawan is the one initiated in line with the 2013 Supreme Court directives and the later amendments carried out in that light in the Bihar state universities Act, 1976 and the Patna University Act, 1976, the same year,” said an official, who didn’t wish to be named.

The government had to bring Bills for amendment after the then Governor returned its ordinance for constitution of search committees for the appointment of vice chancellors and pro-vice chancellors on the ground that it did not conform to the UGC regulations.

The amended Acts made provision of a three-member search committees – two nominated by the chancellor and one by the state government. While the chancellor’s nominees remained the same as in the ordinance, the government replaced principal secretary with an acclaimed academician (Vidyanuragi) as the third member (government nominee) after the matter was raised in the Apex court.

The Opposition had, however, objected to vague word “Vidyanuragi” used for the government nominee even then, calling it an attempt to push bureaucrats through the back door. The government had earlier used the term principal secretary as its nominee. It was during that period that the temporary charge of VCs given to commissioners was taken away after the Apex Court expressed displeasure over it. The court was later informed about the changes.

The then education minister PK Shahi, who is now the state’s advocate general, had told the Assembly during discussion on the bills that “it is important to make appointment of VCs and P-VCs transparent through a search committee in keeping with the ‘spirit’ of UGC regulations and guidelines”.

The committee was to recommend a panel of 3-5 names to the chancellor, who would make the appointments in consultation with the state government.

Later, the Raj Bhawan constituted a three-member committee of VCs to frame fresh statutes for appointment of VCs in all the universities of the state through search committees, as per the provisions laid down in the Bihar State Universities (Amendment) Act, 2013, and PU (amendment) Act.

The Supreme Court had, on August 19, 2013, upheld the quashing of appointment of 10 VCs and eight pro-VCs appointed by former Bihar Governor Devanand Konwar in state universities. It had directed the state government to carry out fresh appointments as per the new provisions and complete the process within four months.

The three-member committee, comprising the then LN Mithila University VC SM Jha, Patna University VC Arun Kumar Sinha and BRA Bihar University VC Ravi Verma, drafted the statute, which was circulated to all the VCs for their opinion before it was vetted by the Chancellor. It was only then that the search committees comprising two Chancellor’s nominees and one state government nominee were formed as per the provisions laid down in the varsity acts amended in 2013 within the Apex Court deadline of four weeks. The chancellor also gave his nod for open advertisement for the key posts in universities.

The draft also clearly defined stepwise process involved in it and inserted the clause “meaningful and effective consultation”, the phrase first used by the single-judge bench of Patna high court while quashing the appointments of VCs.

All this formed the basis for the appointment of VCs and pro-VCs for the first time through search committees on January 30, 2014, after holding consultation with chief minister Nitish Kumar, ending the long spell of ad hocism in the state universities and legal tussle. Since then, the same process has been followed.

“There is no point raking up the same issue again when it was settled more than a decade ago and both the government and the Chancellor followed the procedures laid down by the Apex Court all these years. This is bad for state higher education and a result of sheer politics when the universities need coordinated effort. When one process is on, starting another is like putting a spanner and creating room another legal wrangle. This is a sad situation,” said social activist N K Choudhary, a former professor.

Former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, DM Diwakar, echoes similar sentiments. “The initiative should be started from the Chancellor’s office. The universities are governed by separate acts and it is the prerogative of the Chancellor to run the institutions with the support of the state government. Financial support should not be misconstrued as control. Both should supplement each other, not try to substitute, which seems to be happening,” he said.