Dr Deshmukh was sent on 'forced leave' on August 9 after the university under his leadership failed to declare the results before July 31, the deadline set by the Chancellor
The Governor and Chancellor of the University of Mumbai CH. Vidyasagar Rao on Tuesday removed Dr Sanjay Deshmukh from the office of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Mumbai, for his 'gross negligence and failure in implementing the On-Screen Marking system'.
Dr Deshmukh was sent on 'forced leave' on August 9 after the university under his leadership failed to declare the results before July 31, the deadline set by the Chancellor.
Dr Devanand Shinde, VC, Shivaji University Kolhapur, has been holding the additional charge of the post since then.
As per press statement issued by the office of the governor, the decision to remove the vice-chancellor under was taken under the Section 11(14)(e) of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016. The Act gives the chancellor the power to remove the VC if he has willfully omitted or refused to carry out the provisions of the law or breached any of the terms and conditions of service or any other conditions prescribed by the state government. The statement further stated that Deshmukh was removed "for his gross negligence and failure in implementing the On-Screen Marking system, to declare the results of examinations held in Summer 2017 within the time limit prescribed in the Act and for his failure to comply with the directions issued by the Chancellor from time-to-time, regarding early declaration of results."
On August 1, Deshmukh was issued a show cause notice by Raj Bhavan which asked him to furnish an explanation about the inordinate delay in declaration of the results. Deshmukh in his response had alleged that the delay was a result of a 'sabotage' and said that someone had purposely mixed answer sheets which delayed the whole process.
AD Sawant, former pro-VC of the university said that the VC failed to take responsibility of the decisions taken in his tenure. "Several VCs across state universities in the past have taken responsibility for their mistakes and failures and resigned voluntarily. The current mess around results is unprecedented and the VC should have taken responsibility and resigned voluntarily". Sawant also said that the state government should ensure that the UGC norms are followed while appointing a search committee for the VC. "There is no point in appointing a judge or an IAS officer to judge the academic potential of an individual during the VC appointment?" asked Sawant.
Deshmukh's removal from the post as per experts is probably the first such instance in the history of the 160-year-old university. In 1986, famous academician MS Gore had resigned from the position of VC at the University of Mumbai allegedly due to a scandal involving the daughter of Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar, the then chief minister of Maharashtra. Despite repeated calls and messages, Dr Sanjay Deshmukh could not be reached for a comment.
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