After a month’s delay, guv constitutes NU VC search panel

Nagpur: After a delay of over a month, chancellor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari constituted a search panel for selection of Nagpur University’s vice chancellor. It would be led by former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Dilip Bhosale and comprise principal secretary of water supply and sanitation Sanjay Chahande along with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, chairman Abhay Karandikar, who was nominated by NU’s management and academic councils. NU official Wasim Ahmed would be fourth member of the panel.
According to NU officials, VC SP Kane would be retiring on April 8 and ideally, the panel should have been in place at least 2-3 months earlier so that the new person could be appointed. “Now, the new VC could be named only in June,” they said.
Justifying their contentions, the officials explained that the search panel members were yet to meet for the first official meeting. Afterwards, they would meet a couple of times more to discuss the advertisement format.
“Once it was decided to publish the advertisement, the panel need to provide at least a month’s time for the applicants to apply for it after it’s published in the media. Later, the scrutiny takes about two to three weeks followed by the interview process for selecting five names which would take about a week,” they said.
Thereafter, the five names were forwarded to the chancellor who, then, again met them and finalized a name of particular candidate. “The entire process takes at least two and half to three months. It’s very likely that the officiating VC could be named to take NU’s charge once Kane demits office. It may be pro-VC Vinayak Deshpande or any VC from neighbouring Amravati or Gondwana universities. There’s also possibility that Kane may be asked to look after the charge on officiating basis till his successor is appointed,” they said, adding that Deshpande’s term would also come to an end with Kane.
Though the VC’s appointments are mostly political, this time there would be a tussle between ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress and opposition BJP. “Since the search panel has a secretary from the government, the latter may hold an edge. However, when it comes to final selection of candidate from five names selected by the panel, the governor, who’s from the BJP, would have upper hand, being a chancellor,” the officials told TOI.