Pramod `blessings' get Pune V-C UGC post

Pramod `blessings' get Pune V-C UGC post
SANTWANA BHATTACHARYA

NEW DELHI, SEPT 3: The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has finally approved the appointment of vice-chairman to the highly-polarised University Grants Commission (UGC). But not before an important member of the Vajpayee Cabinet intervened with a recommendation in hand, ostensibly to scotch the growing dissent within the Commission.

And the appointment of Arun Nigavekar, Pune University Vice-Chancellor, as the UGC vice-chairperson seems to have suited all concerned since he has been associated with the Commission in the past. He was the first director of the Bangalore-based National Assessment and Accreditation Centre (NAAC) -- UGC's evaluation wing.

However, Nigavakar's academic background or past association may not have been the main reason behind his appointment, when most of the top posts including that of the Secretary, UGC, have been lying vacant for over three years.

As he belongs to the state of the BJP's all-too-powerful Minister of Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs Pramod Mahajan, ``Nigavekar's appointment was pushed through at the Minister's behest,'' a senior appointment committee member confessed.

But the move to get a vice-chairperson appointed is said to have been taken to clip the wings of UGC Chairperson Hari Gautam, whose ways of functioning have been the cause of much dissent in the university circles.

In fact, the issue of Gautam's ``autocratic functioning'' and non-delegation of statutory powers (both financial and administrative) was raised in the last session of Parliament, causing much embarrassment to the Government.

The HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi was caught on the wrong foot when it was informally raised in a recent Cabinet meeting.

A member of the Cabinet who legally represented the UGC earlier also seemed to have expressed surprise at Gautam's holding such a position given the fact that he is a qualified a medical professional.

``Nigavekar is expected to bring back some sort of a balance in the Commission's functioning. There is a long list of complaints from a number ofvice-chancellors, senior academicians and UGC officials who are unhappy with the present state of affairs,'' a former senior UGC official said.

And when a group of UGC officials went to town with papers and facts showing that the information furnished by the UGC for the HRD Minister's reply in Parliament was erroneous, Mahajan is said to have intervened to play the rescuer's role. Never mind if this was not his own territory.

``He has the Prime Minister's blessings. They (the authorities) have suddenly realised that the developing countries are competing with each other to import the products of Indian higher education,'' one of the UGC officials said.