Four-week deadline for Jadavpur VC search

KOLKATA: The search for a new vice-chancellor has begun at Jadavpur University within days of Abhijit Chakrabarti’s resignation. Education minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday called on university chancellor Keshari Nath Tripathi at Raj Bhavan to discuss the formation of the search committee.
“I want the selection process to be over within four weeks. In the meantime, the pro-VC will oversee university activities,” Chatterjee said.
Saying so, the education minister hinted that he was not going to wait indefinitely for the VC appointment this time.“I am not going to take the onus of leaving institutions headless for long,” the minister said. His comment reminds of the minister’s efforts to cut short the selection process by establishing the state government’s primacy over VC appointment instead of Raj Bhavan.
State officials pointed out that a host of proposals were lying with the Raj Bhavan for months leading to delay in appointing heads of institutions. The reason, they said, was that the chancellor’s nominee and experts were usually scholars from outside the state. “They have their own pre-occupation and it becomes difficult to make themselves available in the meeting,” an education department official said.
This was the logic for the education minister to prepare a draft Bill to bring about changes in the VC selection process. At present, the governor, who is also the chancellor of the university, appoints the VC from a panel of three in consultation with the education minister. To cut it short, Chatterjee wanted the search committee to recommend a panel of three names directly to him instead of the chancellor. The Bill didn’t see the light of the day amid opposition from within the ruling party.
“I hope that the existing system works and there is no delay in appointing the JU VC. If it doesn’t, I will have a second thought on the selection procedure itself,” Chatterjee said.