Govt to interview candidates for Vice Chancellor of BFUHS

Chandigarh, December 12

After getting snubbed from Governor for bypassing the procedure during selection of the Vice Chancellor (VC) of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), the state government has now decided to conduct interviews of all candidates while taking precautions to save itself from embarrassment.

According to sources, the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua on November 24. It was decided at the meeting that this time in search and selection committee a representative of the University Grants Commission would also remain present. Apart from that an expert from outside, who is not linked to Punjab’s Department of Medical Education or the BFUHS, would be part of the committee.

In October, the government had sent a file to Governor recommending cardiologist Dr Gurpreet Wander for the post of the VC. However, it became a huge embarrassment for the government when Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who is chancellor of the BFUHS, sent back the file to the government and conveyed that proper procedure was not being followed during the selection of the VC.

As per the past practice, for selection of a VC of state universities, a short list of candidates is prepared after scrutiny of applications. Following that the search and selection committee headed by Chief Secretary holds interviews of shortlisted candidates. However, no interviews of candidates were conducted during the selection and the government sent just one name for Governor’s approval, which he refused.

The Governor had even asked the Chief Minister to remove Punjab Agricultural University Vice Chancellor Prof Satbir Singh Gosal.

Significantly, the post of the VC of the BFUHS has been lying vacant since last week of July when after facing humiliation at the hands of Health and Medical Education Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra, Dr Raj Bahadur had tendered resignation from the post.

The selection process

As per the past practice, for selection of a VC of a state universities, a short list of candidates is prepared after scrutiny of applications. Following that the search and selection committee headed by Chief Secretary holds interviews of candidates.