After govt
‘misgivings’, UGC panel disbanded
On July 21, the UGC set up a
seven-member committee, headed by Goa University Vice-Chancellor Varun Sahni,
to draft regulations on the minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers
and academic staff in universities and colleges.
THE UNIVERSITY
Grants Commission disbanded its first committee to draft qualification
regulations for appointment of teachers in higher education because the
government had misgivings about the head of the panel, Varun Sahni, who was a
professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, a source who did not wish to be
identified has said.
On July 21, the UGC set up a seven-member committee,
headed by Goa University Vice-Chancellor Varun Sahni, to draft regulations on
the minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and academic staff in
universities and colleges.
Two weeks later, on August 3, the UGC set up another
panel with the same terms of reference but with Professor Sunil Kumar Gupta,
former V-C of Himachal Pradesh University, as chairperson. The circular was silent
on the fate of the previous panel headed by Sahni. A source told The Indian
Express: “The government had misgivings about the political leanings of
professor Sahni.”
Before becoming Goa University V-C, Sahni was a
professor of international politics at JNU, where he had served as chairperson
of the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament and
director of the International Collaboration Office. He is now on deputation
leave from JNU.
When contacted by The Indian Express, Sahni confirmed
that the committee he was appointed to head had been scrapped by the UGC
without any reason attributed to the move.
“Regarding your question, the secretary, UGC, spoke to
me on August 3 and indicated that I no longer needed to block off a large chunk
of my agenda for August 2017. That’s all there is to it,” Sahni said in an
email to The Indian Express. When contacted, UGC’s acting chairman V S Chauhan
asked this reporter to speak to commission secretary Jaspal Singh Sandhu. The
latter did not respond to calls.
Although Sandhu is learnt to have communicated the
decision of disbanding the first committee to Sahni, most of the other members
of the panel said they were not informed. “This is unprofessional. To first set
up a committee, scrap it and not even inform members of the decision,” said one
of the panel members.
Former V-C of Maharana Pratap University of
Agriculture and Technology Professor S S Chahal, Jadavpur University V-C
Suranjan Das and former JNU registrar K P S Unny were among the seven members
of the committee. R C Kuhad, head of Haryana Central University, is the only
member common in the two panels.
Source | Indian Express | 18 August 2017
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Librarian
Rizvi
Institute of Management
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