Indore: The 20-day long stalemate between Chancellor Anandiben Patel and higher education minister Jitu Patwari on the appointment of vice chancellor at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) may end shortly with the latter reportedly signaling at giving in to the former “for the sake of students”.
“Students aspiring to take admission in DAVV teaching departments are at the receiving end of impasse. Though Patwari does not want students to suffer, the blame of delay in appointment of VC is on him. He is now under tremendous pressure of agreeing to the name suggested by the Chancellor for vice chancellorship,” a department of higher education (DHE) senior official said.
The officer claimed that Patwari had finally decided to agree on one of the names suggested by Chancellor for the coveted post at DAVV. He had given identical signals to a delegation of NSUI, which met him on Saturday. As common entrance test (CET) for admissions on UTD campus was marred by technical glitches, the state government on June 24 had clamped Section 52 of Madhya Pradesh University Act, 1973, at DAVV, which led to ouster of vice chancellor Dr Narendra Dhakad.
Chancellor Anandiben Patel was supposed to appoint new vice chancellor in consultation with the government but the two could not reach consensus. While Patel wants one of her preferred candidates as VC, the government is pushing for its choices. Because of this, VC could not be appointed for last 21 days, which brought DAVV to a standstill. As many as 17000 students who took CET are waiting for the VC’s appointment as the results of entrance test can be declared only after his approval.
Who can be the VC?
After clamping Section 52, the government had sent a panel of three members comprising retried principal Prof SL Garg, BK Mehta of Vikram University and Jagmohan Keler of Jabalpur University. But the Chancellor returned the file and sent a panel of her preferred candidates. Her choices include Jashwant Thakur of Sagar University, Renu Jain of Gwalior University and Rajkumar Acharya of Jabalpur University.
Patwari also did not find any of the candidates sent for the Chancellor suitable for the post. Sources said Patwari may call on the Chancellor and request her to consider some local candidate from UTD for the post. Prof Ahsutosh Mishra and Prof Ashok Sharma’s names may be discussed for the VC.
Eyes on Vikram university case also
While the government has signalled at agreeing to Chancellor’s choice but it may wait for decision in Vikram Univeristy case, which is pending with Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court. SL Garg had filed a petition in the court challenging the process adopted by Chancellor for appointment of VC at Vikram university. After clamping Section 52, the government had sent a file with a panel of three members to Raj Bhawan asking it to appoint one of them as VC.
The Chancellor had returned the file stating that she did not find any of the three suitable for the post. She also attached a panel with the file recommending four names and seeking government’s opinion of them. The government sent back the same file to the Chancellor sending a message to her that it wants one of three candidates recommended by it as VC.
Citing this entire episode as completion of consultation with the government, the Chancellor appointed one of the four candidates recommended by her as VC.Garg had challenged this whole process stating that effective and meaningful consultation was not done with the government. The decision in the case is likely to have impact in all future Section 52 cases.
