Mumbai: Weeks before the current vice chancellor of the University of Mumbai is scheduled to retire, staff and teachers of the varsity have highlighted several issues that have been left pending by the current VC for some months, if not years. In a series of letters addressed to VC Suhas Pednekar, varsity employees have sought clarity on matters, including the hiring of teachers for permanent posts (which are currently vacant) and the lack of basic facilities to run regular lectures, among others.
“For months now, teachers have been contacting the vice chancellor’s office with the hope of bringing his attention to pressing issues, but to no avail. Repeated complaints and letters from various department heads have gone unanswered, which is very unprofessional for a man who heads a state university,” said a university staff member, on condition of anonymity.
Recently, members of the University of Mumbai Academic Staff Association (UMASA) approached the VC’s office with their demands, which include the need for hiring staff to fill up vacant posts like clerks, accountants, hamal, etc.
“Due to the ongoing renovation of the old lecture complex, there are very few rooms available to conduct lectures. Basic amenities like benches, chalk and duster or a water cooler are missing from the lecture complex in MU’s Kalina campus. Despite the push for hybrid teaching, the university is yet to provide audio or LCD projectors in many classrooms,” stated a letter by UMASA.
Pednekar, who took over as the VC of the university in April 2018, is all set to retire on September 8. As per the Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016, a search committee to appoint a new vice-chancellor for a university consists of three members. It is headed by a member nominated by the chancellor, a second nomination comes from the principal secretary of the higher and technical education department or any officer not below the rank of principal secretary to the government and the third nominee is usually a director or head of an institute or organisation of national repute nominated by the university management and academic councils.
A joint meeting of the academic and management councils of the university in April this year ended with the councils nominating the name of Pramod Kumar Jain, director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU), Varanasi, as the first name for the said committee. The other two nominations are yet to be made, hinting at a headless varsity for the next few months.
“Basic rules are not being followed, like sharing of the varsity budget copy in time for members to understand the same before passing it. Countless delays in the insurance, finance department, PhD department due to lack of manpower, three-four months delay in preparation of minutes after the research recognition committee (RRC) which eventually delays conferring of PhD, inordinate delay in the purchase of laptops or computers across departments is becoming routine for us. Landlines don’t function in most departments,” said a senior professor.
Repeated attempts to reach VC Pednekar as well as pro-VC Ravindra Kulkarni went unanswered.
