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| KU VC post applicants apprehensive over short-listing criteria | | Urge Search Committee, Raj Bhawan to uphold UGC guidelines, Supreme Court directions | |  Early Times Report
Srinagar, Mar 11: Applicants for the post of Vice-Chancellor Kashmir University have expressed apprehensions of violation of UGC norms and Supreme Court guidelines while deciding upon the short-listing process which has been initiated by the Search Committee and sought Chancellor's intervention in addressing their legitimate concerns.
Several applicants who spoke to Early Times said the Search Committee headed by Dr Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Indian Association of Universities, is presently in the process of carrying out the short-listing from amongst more than 100 applicants for the post of KU VC.
The shortlisted candidates will be asked to appear before the Search Committee for a face-to-face interaction after which the Committee will submit a panel of three names to the Chancellor, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, to select the final candidate.
The applicants have requested the Search Committee which also comprises Dr Najma Akhtar, VC Jamia Millia Islamia and Prof Mohammad Miyan, former VC MANU Hyderabad to strictly adhere to the UGC guidelines and the recent Supreme Court directions on eligibility criteria for appointment of Vice-Chancellors so that there is no room for any apprehensions of violation of set norms.
In a landmark judgment in the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1525 of 2019 in the case of Gambhirdan K Gadhvi Verus The State of Gujarat and Ors.on March 3, 2022, a bench comprising Justices M.R.Shah and B.V.Nagarathna set aside the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of Sardar Patel University (Respondent No 4) in Gujarat as it held that the said appointment was made contrary to the statutory provisions.
“As per Regulation 7.3.0 of the UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2010 ("2010 Regulations") and also 2018 Regulations, a person ought to have ten years of teaching experience as a professor for being eligible to be appointed to the post of VC,” the judgment said.
The apex court judgment also highlighted the crucial role that Search/Selection Committees have in selection of the VC, arguing that “the chairman and members of the Search Committee, who are given the privilege and honour of selecting and suggesting names for the appointment of Vice Chancellor are directly or indirectly responsible for the achievement of the University.”
The Supreme Court held that appointment of a Vice Chancellor of a University, even under a State legislation, cannot be contrary to the provisions of the UGC regulations.
“In cases where the State legislature is repugnant to the Central legislation, Central legislation is to prevail as per Article 254 as 'education' is an item in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule,” the apex court said.
What has triggered apprehensions among many local and outstation applicants is the fact that the advertisement for the KU VC post has already come under cloud over alleged violation of UGC guidelines.
Many applicants have argued that the said advertisement was issued under the signatures of University’s present Registrar Dr Nisar on 27.12.2021 who himself later on surfaced to be an applicant for post of VC after submitting his application form on the last date of submission of applications i.e. 31.01.2022, raising questions of impropriety and conflict of interest. Dr Nisar was replaced by Dr Farooq Ahmad Mir by Raj Bhawan for rendering Secretarial Assistance to the Search Committee but only after he had held some initial meetings with the Search Committee chairperson and members where the VC advertisement was finalised.
“It has never happened in history of Kashmir University that a Registrar who himself emerges to be an applicant for the post of VC happens to have issued the advertisement notice for the post of VC. This is unethical, unprofessional and illegal,” the aggrieved applicants said.
Notably, the advertisement notice for KU VC post, according to the applicants, was different than the one issued by Jammu University despite the two universities being governed by the same Jammu and Kashmir Universities’ Act, 1969.
The KU advertisement, the applicants alleged was tailor-made to suit the non-academician applicant who doesn’t have 10 years of teaching experience as a professor in the university system, which is mandated by the UGC and Supreme Court directions.
However, the University of Kashmir that time argued that the advertisement was issued as per the set norms UGC Regulations 7.3, even though the applicants contest this claim and say the advertisment was not in consonance with the UGC Regulations 7.3.
“The University of Jammu has already shortlisted candidates on the basis of actual UGC regulations and Supreme Court directions. The JU Search Committee has submitted the final panel to the Chancellor. It has raised its credibility and bar very high by adhering to the set norms and regulations by considering applicants purely on the basis of UGC norms rather than any kind of influence,” the applicants said, requesting the KU Search Committee chairperson and members to follow the JU path so that their credibility and statute do not appear to be compromised in any manner.
The applicants have also urged the Search Committee to expedite the process of selecting the new VC in view of allegations of malfunctioning and uncertainty in the university under the present regime. |
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