EC gives its nod for state varsity VC appointments

Hyderabad: The decks have been cleared for the appointment of vice-chancellors to the State universities in Telangana. According to principal secretary Burra Venkatesham, the Election Commission has given its nod for the state government to go ahead with the process of the appointment of the VCs. Accordingly, the search committee meetings are expected to be held around May 30, as the state government wants to ensure no delay in the appointment of the VCs for which it had given notification in January this year.

A three-member search committee will scrutinise 1,382 applications that were received for the VC posts of all 10 universities. Nearly 300 have submitted their candidatures for more than one university.

After scrutiny of applications, the committee sent the names of three professors to the Governor for consideration through the government.

VCs of nine varsities will retire this month. They include Osmania, Kakatiya, Palamuru, Satavahana, Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTU-H), and Jawaharlal Nehru Fine Arts University.

Earlier, the process had come to a halt following the commencement of the Election Code. The State government which wants to complete the process had pursued clearance from the EC after the completion of the polling on May 13. Currently, the principal secretary of Education is holding charge of Telangana University.