Inauspicious days delay vcs appointment in TS

Hyderabad: The Telangana Universities that have currently employed in-charge vice-chancellors, may not get full time VCs at least for another month, thanks to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s belief in astrology and traditions.

Sources in the higher education department said that Rao is not keen on appointing VCs as the period till Sankrathi is considered inauspicious.

“The period till the end of January is considered inauspicious and the chief minister does not want to appoint anyone during this period. The universities functioning without VCs since several months will have to wait for one more month,” sources added.

Currently Osmania University, Kakatiya University, Telangana University, Dr BR Ambedkar University, Mahatma Gandhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University-Hyderabad do not have VCs.

For appointment of VCs, a notification has to be released by the State Council of Higher Education, calling for applications from eligible candidates.

A search committee has to be constituted, with nominees one each from the government, the concerned university and University Grants Commission. According to sources in the higher education council, UGC has sent its nominations for four universities and is waiting for the nominees from the government and the concerned universities.

In order to curb political appointments, the University Grants Commission has mandated that a candidate have atleast 10 years of experience as a professor.

“Notification is not mandatory and the government can directly constitute a search committee,” an official of the Telangana State Council of Higher Education said.

Moreover, except OU and JNTU-H, none of the universities have had executive councils since 2010, sources added.

Osmania University professors lamented that lack of a full time VC is hampering day-to-day activities of the university. “In the period of six months, the in-charge vice-chancellor of OU visited the campus once and only for one hour.” said Prof. Battu Satynarayana, president, Osmania University Teachers’ Association.

Also, universities in the state have no committees to co-ordinate with the National Assessment and Accreditation Council for accreditation. “Osmania University and Kakatiya University are due for NAAC accreditation. OU has applied for accreditation after much delay. Recently the university received a letter of intent from NAAC. A committee has to be formed by the VC to co-ordinate with the NAAC officials,” Satyanarayana said.