Banaras Hindu University (BHU), a century-old institution in the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been going through a phase of "emergency administration" over the past three years.
The university has been operating under the emergency special powers granted to the vice-chancellor (VC) because the executive council, which is normally responsible for decision-making, has been defunct since June 2021.
The full three-year tenure of the VC, professor S.K. Jain, is set to end in January 2025. He may become the first VC to end his term by keeping on invoking emergency powers without conducting the meeting of the executive council for once.
The BHU Act says the council is the executive body of the university and shall have charge of the management and administration of the institution.
The law empowers the VC to act immediately to address any emergency without waiting for the executive council. The VC, however, has to seek the approval of the executive council in its next meeting on actions taken by him.
If the executive council does not approve of the action taken by the VC, he may refer the matter to the Visitor, the President. If any person is affected by the VC's actions, they may appeal to the executive council within 30 days of the action.
At BHU, the executive council comprises the VC and eight others nominated by the Visitor. The tenures of the eight members have ended since June 2021. The education ministry sends names of candidates to the Visitor for nomination to the executive council for three years.
Two government officials said that the file regarding the appointment of executive council members was sent to the education minister's office but it has not been returned. A retired officer said the minister sends all files related to appointments to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), where it is delayed.
One of the key functions of the executive council is to approve the selection of faculty members. During the tenure of the previous VC, professor Rakesh Bhatnagar, over 100 selection committees had selected candidates for appointment as faculty members. They could not be appointed because the executive council was non-existent. The council's approval is needed for the appointment letters.
Jain has, however, overcome the requirement of executive council approval. He routinely uses emergency powers and takes major decisions, said Dr Om Shankar, a professor of cardiology at the Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU.
Shankar was removed from the headship post in May by the VC using emergency powers on the ground that he was on agitation. However, Shankar was protesting the delay in the allocation of beds to his department while continuing his duty. He was reinstated in July.
"If the executive council existed, I would have sought relief. The VC used the emergency power to remove me from the head post. He did not get the action approved by the council and I got no chance to represent in the executive council," Shankar said.
Last month, Shankar wrote to the Visitor against the VC's "wrong" actions. The letter mentions appointments carried out by the VC to various posts, including advisers not mentioned in the BHU Act or statutes, for over two-and-a-half years.
Viswanath Pandey, a former officer on special duty (OSD) who has worked in BHU for over three decades, said the absence of an executive council for a long time has happened for the first time.
"In the past, there has been a delay of one or two months in appointments of EC members. But this is a record. It has been an emergency rule in BHU for the last three years," he said.
Pandey said the BHU Court has 28 nominated members of the Visitor and these positions, too, are vacant.
An email has been sent to higher education secretary Sanjay Murthy to understand the perspectives of the ministry on the delay in constituting the EC. His response is awaited.
