Ten central universities, including Visva-Bharati in Santiniketan, are currently functioning without regular vice-chancellors, prompting activists to question the Centre's commitment towards improving the quality of higher educational institutions.

The universities that do not have regular VCs are Visva-Bharati, Central University of Kerala, Central University of Gujarat, Pondicherry University, English and Foreign Language University, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Rajiv Gandhi University, Mahatma Gandhi Antararashtriya Hindi Vishvavidyalaya, Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) and Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University (HNBGU).

Sudhir K. Jain, the VC of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), is set to complete his tenure on January 8. The BHU's executive council, the top decision-making body, is also defunct since June 2021 as the members nominated by the President in his capacity as the Visitor of the university have not been appointed.

The post of the director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) is also vacant since August 2021.

The functioning of the institutions is affected when a regular VC is not in office. The regular VC carries out the appointment of faculty and non-faculty members and oversees the implementation of development plans.

The education ministry initiates the process for the appointment of VCs and directors of institutions under its control. It issues advertisements, sets up search panels with the approval of the Visitor, helps to screen and interview candidates and issues appointment letters.

The education ministry had on December 13 last year issued an advertisement seeking applications for the post of Visva-Bharati VC after Bidyut Chakrabarty completed his tenure on November 8.

A search-cum-selection committee submitted a list of selected candidates on June 28 this year to education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s office. There has been no development since then. S.K. Mallik is currently the acting VC.

Ignou VC Nageshwar Rao had completed his term in July last year. The education ministry extended his tenure with the approval of the Visitor for a year and waited for almost a year before issuing an advertisement in June. The appointment process is currently underway and the university is headed by an in-charge VC.

The case of HNBGU is unique. After regular VC Prof Annpurna Nautiyal ended her tenure on October 30, the ministry did not issue any letter appointing an in-charge VC for over a month.

Naveen Nautiyal, an activist who has been filing RTI queries and cases in courts about alleged irregularities in the appointment of VCs, said routine activities at the HNBGU came to a standstill in November. An education ministry official said it could not identify the senior-most faculty member who should have been given the charge.

"It take an hour at the most to identify the senior-most faculty member. The ministry took over a month to decide. Only a week ago, M.M.S. Rauthan was asked to take over as officiating VC," he said.

"The government is not sincere about higher education. The government is more interested in promoting those activities where it sees electoral gains. Education is not an area, which would benefit it electorally. It is not a priority," Nautiyal said.

Two retired bureaucrats have told this newspaper that another unofficial layer of scrutiny of candidates has been introduced by the current dispensation. The education ministry sends all files related to the appointment of VCs to the Prime Minister's Office, where they allegedly get stuck.

Samajwadi Party member in the Lok Sabha, Virendra Singh, had last Monday wanted to know if the BHU executive council had not been constituted for the last three years. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar said appointments of members to the BHU executive council was at an “advance stage”.

“Because of vacancies in the executive council of BHU, meeting of EC is not being held. The proposal for nomination of members in the BHU EC is in an advance stage,” the minister said.

The Telegraph had earlier sent an email to the education ministry to understand its perspectives on the delay in the appointment of VCs. Its response is awaited.