Central University remains without full-time VC

Bismah Malik

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 9

The appointment of the Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Kashmir is on hold for the last one year as the selection committee formed by the previous UPA government was scrapped by Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani.

The former Vice Chancellor, Abdul Wahid, retired in February 2014 after which the senior-most faculty member at the CUK, Mehraj-ud-Din Mir, was made the officiating VC of the university.

Sources said the HRD Minister was not keen on appointing any of the three candidates proposed by the selection committee.

Former Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar was one of the three members of the selection committee.

The Ministry has now invited fresh applications from eligible candidates for the post of the Vice Chancellor.

Due to the absence of a Vice Chancellor, various administrative decisions of the varsity have been affected, sources said.

Meanwhile, the varsity recently approved six more courses in addition to the 11 already being taught.

Official sources said the university had advertised for recruiting faculty on a contractual basis for the new postgraduate courses.

“Unless there is a Vice Chancellor, crucial varsity decisions, including recruiting permanent faculty, cannot be taken. This has a bearing on academics as well. Nothing can be done at the moment as the Ministry of Human Resource Development has delayed the appointment process,” a source said.

There are also concerns of shifting the university campus permanently to the Ganderbal site where the construction work was started in 2013.

Although the CUK management says that pre-engineered structures have been constructed at the Ganderbal site, it is unsure when the work will be completed and the varsity starts functioning from there.

“There are no deadlines for completion of the work. When we have a Vice Chancellor overseeing the major project, we can have a clearer picture,” said a senior faculty member wishing anonymity.

The varsity has currently over 700 students on its rolls and has 48 permanent faculty members.

The university at present functions from Sonawar (administrative block), Nowgam and Magarmal Bagh (academic blocks).