Hyderabad: As announced a few days earlier, the Telangana government will be approaching the Supreme Court on the High Court verdict cancelling appointment of vice-chancellors to various universities. The Telangana government had appointed seven V-Cs to regular universities and one for the agriculture university on July 25. The following day, the High Court ordered cancellation of the appointments.
According to Additional Advocate General J Ramachander Rao, the government will make a plea to the apex court to set aside the High Court order. There are clear cut instructions from the Union Government that states can adapt the Universities Grant Commission (UGC) rules as per their requirements. “Here the government felt the need to relax the minimum experience of working as professor to five years as against existing 10 years and a corresponding decision was taken,” he said.
In its argument in the HC, the legal team for Telangana government stated that the intention behind modification of UGC rule was to tap a larger pool of eminent educationists and administrators to improve the functioning of universities. Under Section 101 of AP Reorganisaton Act-2014, the state government was empowered to make any number of adoptions and modifications within two years from the appointed day (June 2), it contended.
Meanwhile, TSFUTA (Telangana State Federation of University Teachers Association), which took the legal route opposing the government’s decision, felt the government’s argument before the SC will not stand. “No state has deviated from UGC rules in appointing V-Cs. The Government should withdraw its GOs issued modifying UGC rules,” a senior professor said.
Government plans to name a female professor as V-C:
The Telangana government is thinking of giving at least one vice-chancellor post to a senior woman professor once legal hurdles on the latest round of V-C appointments are cleared. The universities likely to get a woman V-C are Satavahana varsity (Karimnagar) and Jawaharlal Nehru Arch-itecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU). The government had appointed vice chancellors to eight universities including Osmania, JNTU, Kakatiya, Telangana, Mahatma Gandhi, BRAOU, Telugu Univer-sity Palamuru and Prof Jayashankar Agricul-ture University. Those appointed were all male professors.
Speculations did the rounds earlier that either Satavahana or JNAFAU could be getting a woman V-C. The government had earlier announced that V-Cs to all universities in the state would be appointed by July end. However, unexpected legal hurdles delayed the decision. Names of Prof. Madhumati (from OU) and Prof Padmavathi (JNAFAU), who earlier worked as V-C for JNAFAU, did the rounds a few days ago.
Sources indicated that the remaining appointments will be made only after the issue is settled in courts. As of today, government has to appoint vice-chancellors for three universities with Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) being the third in line along with Satavahana and JNAFAU.
