Indore: Amid impasse with Chancellor Anandiben Patel over appointment of vice chancellor at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV), state government has reportedly sent a file to Raj Bhawan recommending two names for appointment as interim VC.
“We want the Chancellor to appoint an interim VC at DAVV till a permanent VC as per Section 52 of MP University Act is appointed,” a higher education department officer said wishing anonymity.
He said government has recommended names of commissioner (higher education) and Indore revenue commissioner for interim VC. “Either of them can be appointed,” he added.
But the Chancellor is unwilling to accept names recommended by government as she wants a professor instead of an officer on the post, sources said.
This indicates that Chancellor and government are at loggerheads even over the appointment of interim VC at DAVV.
A day after technical glitches marred common entrance test conducted by DAVV, the state government on June 24 invoked Section 52, which led to ouster of vice chancellor Dr Narendra Dhakad.
The government had then sent file containing a panel of three persons to Raj Bhawan to appointing one of them as VC.
But the Chancellor returned the file stating that she does not find candidates recommended by government fit for VC post. She had in fact sent names of candidates she thought suitable for the post to the government so that consensus could be made on any of them.
Now, neither the Chancellor nor the government is ready to give up on their preferred candidates and this stand-off has left DAVV headless.
The admission process involving 17,000 students is at standstill, students are neither getting degrees nor files are getting clearance in absence of VC. To end this blockage, the government thought of getting an interim VC appointed at the DAVV.
HC reserves order in Vikram varsity case
Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday reserved order on a petition filed by retired principal SL Garg challenging the process of appointment of VC at Vikram university.
In his petition, Garg had alleged that government had clamped Section 52 at Vikram and sent a panel of three persons to the Chancellor for appointment of new VC.
The petitioner stated that the Chancellor was supposed to appoint three members in the panel in consultation with government but she sent a panel of four members to government asking it to consider one of them for the vice chancellorship.
“Without proper consultation with the government, she appointed one of her preferred candidate as VC,” the petitioner alleged. The petitioner’s counsel stated that the Chancellor should have gone for meaningful consultation with government before appointing the VC.
The petitioner demanded quashing of VC appointment order and directives to Chancellor for making fresh appointment while considering names suggested by the government.
The Chancellor’s counsel informed the court that proper consultation was done with the government as per rules and then only the VC was appointed.
After hearing all parties, the division bench of Justice SC Sharma and Justice Virendra Singh reserved the order in the case.
