Transparent scam in top university appointments

The claims of transparency in the appointment of vice-chancellors across the state fell flat when serious irregularities were found in the appointment process.

Following allegations of favouritism and irregularities, the state government had decided to bring in transparent and stringent procedures. However, recent developments have exposed the loopholes in the transparency drive.

As per the procedure, a three-member committee, from different walks of life, conducts the interviews. The committee is formed by the governor — the head of all the universities in the state. The chairman nominated by the governor should either be a retired chief justice of the high court, retired Supreme Court judge or a Padma awardee.

The second member should be a director of IIT, IIM or IISc or any national science research council, nominated by the academic and management council of the respective universities. The principal secretary, higher and technical education, government of Maharashtra, is the third member.

However, it was found that Ashok Kolaskar, former vice-chancellor of Pune University, was nominated to the committee to interview candidates for Babasaheb Ambedkar Technical University (BATU), Lonare. At the same time, Kolaskar was also in the race for the post for Yashvantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU), Nashik.

“Principal secretary, higher and technical education, is a common member on all committees. In this case, he will be working under Kolaskar on the committee for BATU and will interview him on the committee for YCMOU. This is not transparency,” a senior academician said.

Interestingly, a member of the committee for YCMOU Pankaj Chandra and Kolaskar are associates of the working group of National Knowledge Commission.

“It is very odd,” Dr SS Patil, former vice-chancellor, North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, said. “Kolaskar should not have accepted the chairmanship when he was  contesting for the post to YCMOU.”