Why delay appointment of a permanent VC for University

Over the past one year, the J&K government has been inducing additional charge syndrome in the Universities by delaying the appointment of permanent Vice Chancellors for the J&K Universities at appropriate time.

In the past, the government would preferably constitute a search committee three months prior to the completion of the tenure of incumbent VC of any University. The search committee constituted to draw a panel of the candidates for the appointment of new VC would complete the process by three months and a permanent VC was appointed by the Chancellor of the J&K Universities without making any interim arrangements to run the institutions.

   

But presently the appointment of a permanent Vice Chancellors is delayed for a prolonged time which mars the smooth functioning of the institution and ultimately tells upon the performance of the University.

A university is described as the highest seat of learning and research which speaks volumes about the importance of the institution in terms of academics and research. But it seems that in J&K, the highest seat of learning has touched the bottom of the priority list of the government.

There are 11 universities in J&K including two Central Universities. Most of these Universities were run by a caretaker Vice Chancellor for many months till recently. Also Vice Chancellor of the Central University Jammu as well as Kashmir have been given extension till the appointment of new VC is made by Government of India. They have been manning the post for the past several months as caretaker VCs as the government of India is yet to appoint a permanent VC for the University in Jammu and Kashmir division.

Sheri Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology (SKUAST)-Kashmir is a case in place. A search committee constituted by the J&K government in July last year to draw a panel of names for appointment to the post of Vice Chancellor (VC) of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST)-Kashmir is yet to complete the process. The seriousness of the government can be gauged from the fact that the committee did not convene any meeting for five months after applications were invited from the candidates for the post of VC of the University. The first meeting of the search panel was convened recently. Currently the post of VC SKUAST-K is manned by VC SKUAST- Jammu as his additional charges. The arrangement made by the government itself speaks how the University must be functioning as the person manning the VC post as his additional charges, is posted in a University situated at a distance of around 260 kilometers.

While the government continues to overlook this grave issue of delay in the appointment of permanent VC for the University, the overall policy decisions takes a back seat in all such universities leaving them in a kind of administrative inertia.

Now coming to the point, the five year term of the incumbent VC Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) Awantipora will end on May 17 after which the university will be rendered headless.

The IUST administration has conveyed to the J&K government about the completion of the term of the incumbent VC months ago. But there has been no headway from the government side and the search committee has not been constituted by the government till date. The move indicates that the government will have to look for an alternate arrangement to run the IUST till the appointment of a new permanent VC for the university.

The exercise for constitution of a search committee should normally start three months prior to demitting the office of a VC which has been a practice and a norm for past many years in J&K. Till the time the term of incumbent VC ends, the selection of new VC is finalized and the handover of charges is done by the two without making any interim arrangement.

But for the past one year, the government delayed the appointment of permanent VC for the university which has paved the way for adhocism and additional charge syndrome in the universities.

Considering the importance of the highest seat of learning, the government should avoid adhocism at university level and take prior decisions instead of handing over the universities to care taker VCs.

The caretaker VC is as good as the permanent VC in terms of qualification and capability, but no major decisions are taken during his tenure as the policy decisions are sent to the board of governors for approval for which the institution needs to have a permanent VC.

Now that the term of incumbent VC IUST will end on May 17, the government should on priority constitute a search committee and expedite the process to appoint a permanent VC for the university.

No doubt, the caretaker VC runs routine work but the overall administrative functioning of the university takes a hit in absence of the permanent head.

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