Mumbai: After the chaotic delay in declaration of results, former Vice-Chancellor of the Mumbai University (MU) Bhalchandra Mungekar stated that the university cannot continue with the same agency MeritTrac for conducting online assessment.
Mungekar also questioned what is stopping the Governor of Maharashtra and Chancellor of the MU Ch Vidyasagar Rao from sacking the VC Sanjay Deshmukh who initiated this online assessment system. Mungekar said, “If anything goes wrong with the assessment process or result declaration then the entire government including the governor, chief minister and university officials will be held responsible. The future of lakhs of students is at stake.” This agency was responsible for online assessment wherein the results of 477 examinations conducted this year were delayed.
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Holding Deshmukh responsible for the entire mess, Mungekar questioned what is preventing the governor from sacking Deshmukh. Mungekar said, “Under the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, the chancellor has the power to remove the VC from his office. I wonder what is stopping Rao from doing so as Deshmukh has played with the lives of lakhs of students.”
Mungekar also suggested a matrix structure for the functioning of the university. “First of all, higher officers should be appointed and the senate, management and academic council along with the board of faculty should be formalised. The decisions should be taken at the central level and the implementation at the decentralised level. These bodies will prevent solo decisions for the entire university,” Mungekar added. Mungekar will raise this issue in a meeting with Rao on October 6.
