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Mumbai University VC Rajan Welukar must resign now: Academicians, student unions

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It was an anti-climax of sorts on Thursday across academic circles in Mumbai and other six districts to which Mumbai university caters when the Bombay High Court made a strong observation against the search committee for Rajan Welukar's appointment but referred the matter to another bench for the final order.

"Welukar must resign now, at least for the sake of the dignity of the chair," said a professor, a view which was shared by many other academicians at the university and colleges. Some disgruntled lots demanded that the governor sack him to save the institution from further degradation.

Student unions made similar demands. ABVP's Yadunath Deshpande said, "He must resign and stay away from academics till the final court verdict comes."

Degradation of the exam system
Welukar's four-and-a-half-year tenure is marked with several controversies, including question paper leaks and scams, goof-ups in allocation of exam centres, and delays in announcement of results and issuance of marksheets.
Several re-exams were conducted after paper leaks, causing stress to students, hundreds lost a year due to delayed revaluation results, some lost seats in foreign institutions, and some even lost jobs. While the varsity tried the electronic mode to deliver question papers to stop leaks, software glitches led to another set of problems.
Welukar is also charged with adopting new systems — the credit-based system and online assessment system — without proper homework, which led to more mess.

Appointments in various bodies
Professors accuse him of doing "irreparable damage" to the institution by messing up appointments across academic structures. "Most chairpersons and members of board of studies and other bodies appointed under his tenure are under-qualified or not qualified at all. Their only qualification is their closeness to Welukar," alleged a professor.
Another professor said, "Whoever is the next VC will have to spend his full tenure in returning the university to the level it was when Welukar took over."
While Welukar's critics accuse him of "dictatorship", citing examples of selection of wrong people and suspension of prof Neeraj Hatekar a year ago, university registrar MA Khan claims the VC can't take any decision unilaterally.

Drop in academic output
The overall academic output of the university dropped to an all-time low during Welukar's tenure, say his opponents. Senate member of university Sanjay Vairal said, "Because he compromised on the quality of people hired, the academic vigour has got down. Also, the quality of graduates the university is churning out these days is a serious concern."
Senators pointed out the skewed grants for research and infrastructure in the past four years. "Teaching quality, research output and image among employers all have gone down, a sad situation for one of the oldest institutions in the country having a long list of successful alumni," said one.

Good decisions
However, Welukar is attributed with bringing some big-ticket projects, including opening up of the Confucius centre, new building of exam house with upgraded system, and India's biggest convention centre. But his critics claim that most of these projects either didn't take off or were planned before he came.

Quotes
I'm glad the incompetence was seen finally! I had met the then CM over scams at MU in infrastructure, paper-checking and revaluation and sports, all overlooked by VC despite complaints. Shielded by then govt, VC carried on. I request the CM to evaluate performance of all VCs across Maharashtra in the interest of students and teachers. I hope we have a good VC soon
—Aditya Thackeray

The opinion of court is being misquoted by the petitioner. The court has categorically said it can't interfere in the opinion of expert, and therefore, the search committee may be asked its opinion about condition number 3 of the eligibility criteria. The court has agreed and accepted that Welukar fulfils seven out of eight conditions...
—MA Khan, MU registrar

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