INSO demands academician as Vice-Chancellor, holds protest

Ravinder Saini

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Rohtak, February 11

The discussion over the appointment on the top post at state universities has again gained pace with the Indian National Student Organisation (INSO) holding protest outside the Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) campus on Saturday demanding the state government to appoint only academician as the Vice-Chancellor in the higher education institutions.

The three-year term of MDU’s Vice-Chancellor Prof Rajbir Singh is going to end on February 20. The government has not only invited applications for the post, but also formed a search committee to finalise a panel for it.

As per advertisement issued by the Department of Higher Education in January to invite applications for the position of the MDU VC, the applicant or nominated person should be a reputed academician (minimum 10 years experience as Professor or equivalent in a reputed organisation) with administrative experience and leadership quality. A former V-C of the state university said academicians should be preferred over people from other fields in terms of appointment on the post of V-C as the academicians not only were well-aware of prevailing issues/challenges in academic field due to being a part of it, but can also handle the situation well as per their experience.

“As per the UGC regulations, a professor with a minimum of 10 years experience of teaching is mandatory for the post of Vice-Chancellor, but the posts are being filled whimsically without observing the UGC regulations in letter and spirit barely on extraneous considerations. Repeated judicial pronouncements in the recent past speak volumes regarding non-adherence to the UGC regulations,” said Prof KPS Mahalwar, member, Higher Education Council, Haryana.