Palampur: Row over panel set up for HP Agriculture University V-C’s selection

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, May 6

Two days after Governor Shiv Paratp Shukla, who is also the Chancellor of HP Agriculture University, Palampur, constituted a selection committee for the appointment of Vice Chancellor of the varsity, heads and Deans of various departments have claimed that the panel was not set up as per the rules.

The committee has invited applications for the post of Vice-Chancellor in an advertisement published in newspapers. It has been formed in accordance with the provisions of Himachal Pradesh Universities of Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry Act, 1986.

Prof Kailash Chander Sharma, former V-C, Kurukshetra University, who is a University Grants Commission (UGC) nominee, is the Chairman of the selection committee. The other two members are — RC Aggrawal, Deputy Director General Education, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi; and Rajesh Sharma, a nominee of the Governor.

Talking to The Tribune, heads and Deans of different departments of agriculture university alleged that the selection committee constituted by the Chancellor was faulty and against rules on three counts. They said the Chancellor had replaced Director General of ICAR with Deputy Director General (DDG) as member. As per law, there is no provision in statute to make DDG a member, they claimed.

The Director General by virtue of a higher rank and pay-scale than Vice-Chancellor had always been Chairman of the selection committee in the past, they said, adding that the UGC nominee who is of Vice-Chancellor’s rank had been made Chairman of the committee.

As per the Act, “Section 24 (1).of the Act states that the Vice-Chancellor shall be a whole time officer of the University, who shall be appointed by the Chancellor on the recommendations of the Selection Committee consisting of following three members: (i) A nominee of the Chancellor; (ii) The Director General, ICAR; and (iii) The Chairman, UGC, or his nominee. (2) The Chancellor shall nominate one of the members referred to in sub-section (1) as the Chairman of the Selection Committee.”

However, to end the deadlock between Raj Bhawan and the state government on the appointment of Vice-Chancellors of state universities, the government amended the aforesaid Act, which was finally approved by the Governor with modifications. Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla in consultation with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu approved the bill with certain conditions which was pending in the office of Governor since September 2023. Now, apart from the representatives of Raj Bhawan, UGC and ICAR, there will also be a representative from the state government in the committee recommending the appointments of V-Cs.

The Raj Bhawan has agreed that as per the amendment, there is no hitch in making the representative of the state government, as a part of the selection committee, but he should have a background in agriculture and horticulture and should be of the level of Vice Chancellor.

However, in the present committee of three members, there is no representative of state government, the farm varsity HoDs claimed, adding that there was also another fault in the committee that it ignored the amended provisions of inclusion of state government representatives of the rank of Vice Chancellor.

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