PATNA: Sounds strange, but the craze for the coveted office of the university vice-chancellor in Bihar seems to have declined considerably in recent years.
The number of applications received in response to the advertisements issued by the chancellor’s secretariat some time past clearly indicate that very few academics want to become VC or pro-VC today. Hardly 10 to 15 candidates have reportedly applied for these coveted posts this time, while earlier hundreds of candidates used to show interest to hold such a post.
According to informed sources, in 2013, the chancellor’s secretariat had received more than 3,000 applications from different parts of the country in response to the advertisement for the appointment of VCs and pro-VCs in altogether 11 universities of the state. This was for the first time, when the process of appointment of VCs and pro-VCs in the state universities, through open advertisement, was introduced in Bihar following the Supreme Court direction.
In 2016, the chancellor’s secretariat received more than 500 applications for the post of VCs and Pro-VCs in 11 universities of the state. And, the number of applicants for the two posts in different universities has gone down far below this time, sources said.
The chancellor’s secretariat has already started the process of interviewing the shortlisted applicants through a duly constituted search committee, headed by L N Mithila University VC Surendra Pratap Singh and comprising B R A Bihar University VC Hanuman Prasad Pandey and noted litterateur Ram Bachan Roy (government nominee).
So far the interaction of candidates with the search committee for the appointment of VCs of Purnia, Munger, Maulana Mazharul Haq Arabic and Persian and Nalanda Open universities has already been completed. Interviews for the posts of VC of Patliputra university and pro-VC of Nalanda Open University are yet to be held.
Sources said the process of interaction of candidates for all the vacant posts advertised by the chancellor’s secretariat is likely to be completed by the end of the current month after which the appointment of VCs and pro-VCs from amongst the names figuring in the panels submitted by the search committee would be made by the governor in consultation with the chief minister.
Commenting on the declining craze among the academics for these coveted posts in the universities, former principal of Patna College Nawal Kishore Choudhary observed that the dignity of VCs and pro-VCs has been eroded considerably with their frequent removal on flimsy grounds. Academics aspiring for vice-chancellorship of any university in Bihar are not sure whether they would be appointed purely on merit without any “favour” of the powers-that-be, he said.
Bihar Public Service Commission’s former member Shiv Jatan Thakur said several aspirants for the post of VC and pro-VC are skeptical about the composition of the search committee with the two sitting VCs of universities from within the state. And, these search committee members have been officiating as the VC of three or four universities simultaneously in blatant violation of the Supreme Court ruling, he added.
