Action against VCs opens Pandora’s Box

In about past four years, BJP led Central Government has removed five Vice Chancellors out of which three were its own appointees. Interestingly, all the three Vice Chancellors (VCs) who were removed in the last two years were appointed during the tenure of Smriti Irani as Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD). While two VCs demitted the office silently, Prof. Rattan Lal Hangloo has labelled allegations of ‘mafia raj’ in the Central University of Allahabad and declared to fight back.

 

 

HIGHLIGHT

• Jawahar Lal Kaul was appointed VC of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in November 2014. He was dismissed in December, 2017 on allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
• Arvind Kumar Agarwal was appointed VC of Mahatma Gandhi Central University of Bihar (Motihari) in February, 2016. He was removed in October, 2018 for fudging records of his Ph.D. degree.
• Rattan Lal Hangloo was appointed VC of Central University of Allahabad on December 30, 2015. He was forced to resign on December 02, 2020.
• All the three VCs were removed by incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind who is the Chancellor of all the central universities in India while two VCs were removed by his predecessor Pranab Mukherjee.
• So far five VCs have been removed during BJP Government while over a dozen more faced inquiries which were dropped at various stages.

 

The Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Allahabad Prof. Rattan Lal Hangloo has become the third Vice Chancellor who was appointed and removed by BJP led Central Government since it first came to power in 2014. However, Hangloo held the post for maximum duration than the two other Vice Chancellors removed from office on various allegations of mismanagement, corruption and fudging records.

Immediately after submitting his resignation, Hangloo alleged that the university was being run by mafias who were pressuring him to make appointments on the basis of recommendations but he wanted to prefer candidates on the basis of merit. “It is correct that I have resigned. The reason was that, repeatedly, baseless enquiries were initiated against me. On several occasions it was proved that there was no substance in the complaints. I resigned because I was totally fed up,” said Hangloo in a media statement. He was facing charges of corruption and mishandling of the cases of sexual harassment. In such a case Hangloo had to personally present before the National Commission for Women (NCW) on December 26 to defend his position. However, Hangloo alleged that he was being ‘hounded’ by persons with vested interests and appointment on 1200 vacant positions  was the main reason for his harassment. Along with him, the Registrar and PRO have also resigned from their respective positions.

Interestingly, all the three Vice Chancellors removed recently were appointed during the tenure of Ms. Smriti Irani whose appointment as the Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD) was the most controversial appointment by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Irani served as HRD Minister from May 26, 2014 to July 5, 2016. She was later shifted to Ministry of Textiles and is presently Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD).

Corruption and Mismanagement: Misuse of Power or Easy Allegations?

The Central Universities in India have been provided equal status to the State governments to make them immune from political interference and maintain academic autonomy. In some cases, the VCs of the Central Universities have more autonomy in comparison to the Governors of the States as they can be removed by the President of India only on the proven charges of corrupt practices. They can not be transferred from one university to the other. 

As a VC of Central University is appointed for five years, he has unlimited powers to appoint faculty members of his interest and conduct the business of the university provided the approval of the internal mechanism such academic council, executive council and university court. However, these bodies of the university can only pose hurdles in the administrative decisions of the Vice Chancellor. Simultaneously, the party in power also has a lobby in every campus. This clash of vested interests has been a bone of contention in many campuses and Allahabad Central University was never an exception. 

Before Hangloo, Jawahar Lal Kaul VC of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University was also removed on the allegations of corruption and mismanagement. He was accused of allowing intake of 200 students in some courses against a sectioned strength of 60 students. Besides, he was also accused of violating norms of affiliating institutions. Prof. Kaul was earlier VC of Vikram University in Ujjain. He came into limelight when he was attacked by right wing students for organizing a camp to collect donations for flood victims in Kashmir in September, 2014.

Sushant Dattagupta who was removed in February ,2016 from Vishwa Bharti University, was the first VC to be removed by BJP government on charges of corruption. Besides, inquiries were also initiated against VCs of Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), IGNOU, Tripura University but they were dropped at different stages. The enquiry against DU VC Dinesh Singh was highly dramatic as the then Minister of HRD Irani had made it an issue of prestige. However, then President Pranab Mukherjee had not approved his removal.  

Record Fudging by VCs

The removal of two VCs on the allegations of record fudging and plagiarism has raised questions on the process of appointment on such important positions.  

Arvind Kumar Agarwal, VC of Mahatma Gandhi Central University was accused of providing fake certificate on his Ph.D. degree. He had claimed to have completed his PhD from Germany but in inquiry it was found that he got a degree from University of Rajasthan. With this fake degree he became VC and remained on the post for about two and a half years before being removed by the President in October, 2018.

Another shocking case of record fudging came from University of Puduchcheri. Here, Chandra Krishanmurthy was accused of plagiarism and fake records of research papers and books published to her credit. She was appointed by in 2012 by during UPA government and held the position for about five years. She was caught up and removed just before completion of her term.

The selection of VCs for Central Universities is done by a selection panel headed by an eminent academician who happens to be a former VC of a Central University while other members of the panel are also senior academicians. How such people manage to pass through all the process of gatekeeping? This raises a serious question on the system. 

The government needs to put such a system in place so that the top appointments in universities are sacrosanct. Besides, the political interference in universities should be minimized and their autonomy must be respected. The VCs also need to come out of lobbying and focus on academic standards of their respective universities. Besides removal of the VCs who are accused of submitting fake records, the government should also develop a mechanism of assessing the potential loss to the university and they must be made liable for payment of damages after removal from office. 

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)