Page 16 - EducationWorld June 2022_Neat

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tions are silent on the issues of party, Koshiyari has been
permitting foreign HEIs to establish at daggers drawn with the
campuses in India proposed by the MVA government and chief
Foreign Educational Institutions minister U ddh a v T h a c -
(Regulation of Entry and Operations) k e ra y in particular.
Bill, 2010 of the Congress-led UPA-II Now with prolonged de-
government (2009-14), most bona lay in appointing SPPU’s
fide academics — except for die-hard vice chancellor becoming
lefties and sangh p arivar regressives inevitable, the state govern-
— welcome it as an overdue first step ment has appointed Prof.
towards modernisation of India’s Karbhari Kale, VC of the
moribund higher education system. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
Autar Nehru (Delhi) Technological University,
Lonere, Raigad district,
MAHARASHTRA to serve as pro tem VC of
VC selection stand-off Koshiyari: political antagonism back story SPPU. However, seasoned
academics warn against a
of appointing SPPU’s new VC is not prolonged top-level vacancy in SPPU.
PROLONGED FEUD BETWEEN an act of forgetfulness. Last Decem- Part-time VCs attend to adminis-
Maharashtra’s tripar- ber, the MVA government amended “trative and academic emergencies
tite (Shiv Sena, Congress MPUA, 2016 to create a new post of and can’t make important policy and
A Nationalist Congress ‘pro-chancellor’ in public universi- faculty recruitment-related decisions.
and
Party) MVA government and BJP- ties to balance power between the Thus, handing additional charge of
appointed state governor B h a g a t state government and the chancel- SPPU which has 950 affiliated colleges
S i g h os h i a ri has thrown a span- lor. Clearly, the objective was to clip to a part-timer on the eve of the new
n
y
K
ner in the works of Savitribai Phule Koshiyari’s wings. Under the amend- academic year is likely to be very dam-
Pune University (SPPU, estb.1949). ment, the state government’s higher aging for SPPU. In the first instance
Following retirement of vice chan- education minister will occupy the the MVA government should not have
cellor Nitin Karmalkar on May 18, the pro-chancellor’s office. legislated the MPUA 2016 amendment
VC’s office of the 73-year-old univer- The amendment also cancels past which is in breach of UGC regulations
sity (ranked #2 in Maharashtra in the practice of the search committee sub- stipulating the process for selecting
latest EducationWorld India Higher mitting a shortlist of five VC probables and appointing university vice chan-
Education Rankings 2022-23), has to the governor’s office. Instead, it di- cellors. It has been unmindful that
been vacant. A vacancy at the top rects the search committee to forward UGC is the apex regulatory authority
on the eve of the new academic year the shortlist to the government. Sub- for higher education institutions in the
scheduled to begin in June is a seri- sequently, the governor is obliged to country,” says S h a m ra o L a w a n de ,
ous matter for this state government select one of the two names forwarded president of the Maharashtra Fed-
university, which has 950 affiliated to him by the state government. eration of Universities and Colleges
colleges. Although the amendment bill was Teachers Organisation (MFUCTO).
S.12 of the Maharashtra Public Uni- passed in the state’s assembly on De- Lawande’s argument is fortified
versities Act (MPUA), 2016 mandates cember 29, it still requires governor by a Supreme Court order (March 3,
that the process for selection and ap- Koshiyari’s assent before it becomes 2022) in G amb hirdhan G adhvi vs.
pointment of an incoming vice chan- law. Meanwhile, the MVA government S tate of G uj arat. In this case, a two-
cellor should be completed at least one has reiterated that SPPU’s new vice judge bench of the court quashed
month before the “probable date of chancellor will be appointed under the appointment of Shirish Kulkarni
occurrence of the vacancy of the vice the amended bill. as VC of the Sardar Patel University
chancellor”. The Act prescribes consti- The backstory of antagonism be- (SPU), Anand (Gujarat) on the ground
tution of a three-member search panel tween Koshiyari, a former RSS vet- that the appointment was not made
to shortlist candidates for the VC’s of- eran and former chief minister of Ut- by a search committee as prescribed
fice. Governor Koshiyari has yet to tarakhand, and the MVA government, by UGC regulations. The court held
appoint a chairperson of the search is that since November 2019 when the that state governments are obliged
committee. Shiv Sena — a longstanding ally of the to follow UGC regulations in case of
Monitors of Maharashtra’s aca- BJP — ended its 25-year alliance with a conflict between state and Central
demic scene are unanimous that Ko- the party and formed a coalition gov- legislation.
shiyari’s failure to initiate the process ernment with NCP and the Congress Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)

16 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2022