vice-chancellor appointment row: Telangana set to amend agriculture university Act

HYDERABAD: With appointment of vice-chancellors becoming a thorny issue in states like Kerala and the Supreme Court striking down appointment of a V-C in Uttarakhand for violation of UGC guidelines, Telangana government is gearing up to amend the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University Act for appointment of V-Cs.
The agriculture university V-Cs were earlier appointed without the approval of a search committee unlike V-Cs of other universities.

"A proposal has been sent to the state government recently by the university for amending the university Act clause. The government may amend the Act in the upcoming assembly session," a senior official of the agriculture university told STOI.
The government is also wary about governor Tamilisai Soundararajan not approving the appointment of V-C as there is no search committee for the appointment.
The governor has already raised objection on the common recruitment board for university appointments and kept the bill on newly-formed forest university chancellor appointment pending.
Officials recalled that nine universities V-Cs' appointment has become an issue in Kerala where governor Arif Mohammad Khan objected to the manner in which the V-Cs were appointed. The issue is now in Kerala high court.
"The AP HC had directed the then state government to amend the rules of then Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University Act, 1963, in 2012 for appointment of V-C, finding fault with the existing selection process, eligibility and procedure. Later, the AP government, post-bifurcation, amended the agri univ Act in 2016, while the Telangana government ignored the directive and went ahead with appointment of new V-C in 2017," a senior professor of the university said.