Pramod Sawant eyes Goa University pro-Chancellor’s post, sparks row
The Opposition Congress in Goa accused the BJP of seeking to control educational institutions across the country.
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant’s plans to appoint himself pro-Chancellor of the Goa University has run into opposition with academicians, students and the opposition Congress saying that the move would amount to political interference in the functioning of the varsity.
The Congress party officially took a hardline on the matter with its spokesperson describing the government’s moves as deeply suspicious.
“We strongly oppose this move. The government should come clean on the motives behind this planned change. The Chief Minister is already the education minister what more does he want to control? All across the country the ruling BJP wants to control education institutions, this will set a bad precedent,” Congress spokesperson Amarnath Panjikar said.
But another Congressman and leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat said the matter would need to be studied.
“They have to see how the system functions in other states before taking a decision,” Kamat said.
The National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students’ wing of the Congress, said the move was in line with the BJP’s plans to capture educational institutions countrywide for ideological purposes.
“Basically they want to take over the institutions that the country is known for and if the institutions go into the hands of political leaders then it is very bad for the country,” Ahraz Mulla, president of the NSUI said.
“Universities are autonomous bodies and they should not be politicized. They want to remove the contribution of Jawaharlal and all the Congress leaders who have done so much for the freedom of India. So what they want to change is the history and that is why he wants to become the pro-Chancellor and nothing else,” Mulla added.
The NSUI said they would protest the move, if the government goes ahead with its plans with “all possible vigour”.
The Goa University, like many other public funded universities follows a structure where the university is run by the Vice Chancellor while the Governor is the ex-officio Chancellor of the university.
Last month, chief minister Sawant told the Legislative Assembly that he was considering appointing himself the pro-Chancellor of the university in order to ensure that the government has its representative at the helm of affairs.
Sawant, who also holds the education portfolio, promised that the government will move a bill in the next session of the assembly to bring about the change.
Political analyst Prabhakar Timble said that the move was a ‘retrograde step’ “The role of the government should be restricted to funding and financial audit with complete autonomy on academic and administrative issues,” he said.
“The guidelines of the University Grants Commission prohibit the designation of a minister to the post of a pro-Chancellor. Accountability should not be restored by the Chief Minister settling in the shoes of a pro-Chancellor. It should be through the university bodies and mechanisms as provided under the University Act, ordinances and statues,” he said.
“The state government is represented by the secretaries of higher education and finance on the executive council and around five nominees of the chancellor on the academic council… there are no such offices for political figures in the 334 private, 126 deemed and 74 universities of national importance,” Timble said.
