In showdown with Raj Bhawan, Nitish govt issues own ads for VCs

The Bihar government and the Raj Bhawan are again on confrontation path, in a reprise of what had happened in 2010 during the tenure of former Governor Devanand Konwar, when the showdown over the appointment of vice chancellors had snowballed after the then education secretary KK Pathak had stopped the salary of Magadh University and VKS University VCs. The same process continued since then until Monday, when the department of education issued separate The department’s As per the process laid down by the Supreme Court in 2013 following a long tussle between the state government and the Raj Bhawan over appointment of VCs, the panel comprising three to five names for each university, submitted by the search committee after interaction with prospective shortlisted candidates, goes for consultation between the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of state universities, and the chief minister for selection of vice chancellors. Dept questions autonomy Three days after Bihar governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar termed the Bihar’s education department order stopping the salary of the vice chancellor and Pro-vice chancellor of a state university and freezing its bank accounts as “arbitrary”, and “attack on the autonomy of universities” and directed it to be withdrawn, the department has questioned it. Last year, controversy surrounding some of the VCs and raids by the state Vigilance sleuths on the then Magadh University VC Rajendra Prasad had led to power tussle, with the Raj Bhawan writing against it to the government and describing it as an “infringement on the autonomy of state universities”. Delay inevitable Several state universities in Bihar are once again set to slip under ad hoc arrangement by the third week of next month, as incumbent vice chancellors will complete their term and the process for their successors is unlikely to be completed by then due to repeat While the search for the Patna-based Aryabhatt Knowledge University vice chancellor has been on for over three years, six more universities, including Patna University, will see the term of their VCs ending after September 19.