DU V-C selection rules at odds, likely to get delayed

The appointment of a new vice-chancellor for Delhi University is likely to get delayed with the authorities following two sets of processes and rules, said officials.

As per the DU statute, any person of eminence can be appointed as the V-C with no mention of qualification requirements.

But this year the ministry of human resource and development asked the university to advertise for the post with the requirement that the applicant should be a professor with a minimum of 10 years experience and not more than 65 years of age.

“If the MHRD advertisement is to be taken into account, then the UGC rule will have to adopted by the university for which academic and executive council’s approval will be required. For the time being, even the advertisement itself is illegal. So, the process of appointment is going to get delayed,” said a senior university official, who did not want to be named.

DU, being a being a central university set up by an Act of Parliament, follows its own statutes. The search committee to select the new V-C was constituted as per the statutes but the advertisement lists the criteria for the post in tandem with the UGC notification 2010.

It has been the norm that the three-member search committee selects the candidate for the post, which has to be approved by the President of India, a visitor of the university.

According to a source, if the UGC notification is followed then the selection committee should also have been different.

As per UGC notification, the search committee should consist of one nominee of the executive council, one nominee of the visitor or chancellor and a UGC nominee.

But the DU search and selection committee consists of former chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) DP Agrawal and former comptroller and auditor general Vinod Rai, who are nominees of the university’s executive council, along with chairman of University Grants Commission Ved Prakash, who is the visitors’ nominee.

A senior university official said a problem might arise as two different sets of rules are being followed. However, the HRD ministry refused to comment on the issue.

After former V-C Dinesh Singh completed his tenure in October, pro V-C Sudhish Pachauri was made the acting vice-chancellor.

Singh and the ministry had been at loggerheads ever since the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) row.

Though no action was initiated against him, following his reply, Singh was dropped from a delegation accompanying the President to Israel and Jordan because the ministry felt that the MoUs signed by him may not hold much significance.

But Singh held that he was extremely proud of the FYUP. “It was a big initiative. Perhaps its’ time will come in future,” he had said in the days running up to his departure.