Government is likely to start the process for the appointment of Vice Chancellor of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University in a week or two, highly placed sources told ‘The Hitavada’. Dr Subhash Chaudhari was appointed as Vice Chancellor in August 2020. Dr Chaudhari was suspended twice, first in February 2024 and again in July 2024. He knocked the doors of the court that termed his suspension as illegal. During both his suspensions, Chancellor gave the charge to Dr Prashant Bokare, the Vice Chancellor of Gondwana University. Meanwhile, in September 2024, Dr Chaudhari died.

 

After some days of his death, as per the instructions from the Governor, the University conducted a joint meeting of Academic Council and Management Council to finalise the name of the member for search panel that would select new Vice Chancellor. As per the rule, the university concerned nominates a member through Academic Council and Management Council. RTMNU has completed this process and nominated the name of Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur Avinash Kumar Agrawal.

 

A person of the level of Principal Secretary will be the Member Secretary. University Grants Commission provides one member while Chancellor appoints a person as Chairman of the Committee. After the constitution of the committee, the Chancellor office will pass a message to the university regarding start of the process. Accordingly, an advertisement will be released inviting the candidates for the post of Vice Chancellor. The selection process includes scrutiny of the applications, shortlisting candidates. This whole exercise will be completed in two months if it is conducted in time. What about Deans? If the process of selecting new Vice Chancellor lingers, then there is a risk of all Deans losing their tenure.

 

The Dean is appointed by the Vice-Chancellor on the recommendations of the selection committee for the purpose under this Act. Their tenure ended after the death of Dr Chaudhari. As per the Section 15 (3), the term of Dean shall be co-terminus with the term of office of the Vice Chancellor or till he attains the age of superannuation, whichever is earlier. But in case of the death of Dr Subhash Chaudhari, this subsection is not applicable as the provisio 2 says, ‘Provided further that, in case vacancy occurs in the office of the Vice-Chancellor because of death, resignation or otherwise, the Dean shall continue to hold the post till the end of that academic year.’ Now the academic year will end in April. It means these deans won’t be able to continue after April 2025.