The charge of delayed appointments to key posts that has got Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh K. Tyagi suspended also holds true of the Union education ministry which had recommended action against him.

The ministry has been sitting over the appointments of several IIT directors and central university vice-chancellors for months.

For example, 10 months have passed since a panel headed by education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal interviewed candidate directors for IIT Mandi and IIT Indore on December 26 last year.

No appointments have been made yet, nor has the appointment process been cancelled for lack of suitable candidates.

A former education ministry official said that after an interview for an IIT director or central university VC, the file containing the shortlisted names is sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, a practice introduced by the NDA government.

The delay occurs mainly at the PMO, which examines the ideological leanings of the shortlisted candidates, the official said.

Several academics had last week gone on record to question the trend of senior academic officials being chosen on the basis of their adherence to the ruling establishment’s ideology.

This, they told The Telegraph, led to the appointment of people with questionable credentials, as evidenced by the recent spurt in the removal or resignations of VCs over charges of impropriety.

Since Pradeep Mathur’s tenure as director ended at IIT Indore on December 31 last year, senior-most professor Neelesh Kumar Jain has been officiating as the director.

IIT Roorkee director Ajay Kumar Chaturvedi has had additional charge of IIT Mandi from July 1 after T.A. Gonsalves completed his tenure.

“Issuing an appointment letter with the President’s approval is just a matter of a week or two after the interview,” the former education ministry official said. “Sometimes, the process may be cancelled if none of the candidates is found suitable, but it’s highly unusual to sit tight for more than 10 months after the interview.”

President Ram Nath Kovind last week suspended Tygai for non-performance, which included long delays in the appointments of the registrar, pro-VC and other key officials.

IIT Patna, IIT Bhubaneswar and IIT Ropar too have been waiting for a regular director for several months. The tenures of the incumbent directors have been extended in Bhubaneswar and Ropar while IIT-BHU director Pramod Kumar Jain has been given additional charge of IIT Patna after Pushpak Bhattacharyya left the institute on June 25.

Another panel headed by Pokhriyal had interviewed candidate directors for these three institutes on July 14.

One problem with “officiating” or “acting” directors or directors on extended tenure is that they are not allowed to recruit new faculty members, two IIT teachers said, requesting anonymity.

With teacher vacancy ranging between 20 and 30 per cent at each of the 23 IITs, the absence of a regular director can hurt badly, the teachers said.

Allahabad University too has been without a regular VC for the last 10 months.

An expert committee had interviewed candidates for the vice-chancellors’ post at Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University, Delhi, on August 20. Another had held a similar interview on August 23 for the Central Sanskrit University, Delhi.

No decision has been taken on the appointments, and the tenures of the incumbent vice-chancellors have been extended temporarily.

An email sent to the education ministry on Monday seeking the reasons for the delays in the appointments of VCs and IIT directors brought no response.

During the last Parliament session, the education ministry had been asked why so many vice-chancellors’ posts were vacant and when they might be filled.

“The incidence and filling up of vacancies of vice-chancellors in universities is a continuous process,” Pokhriyal had said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on September 22.

“The process of appointment of vice-chancellor in (a) central university is a time-consuming exercise which involve(s) getting executive council/ court’s nomination(s) of the concerned central university, constitution of search-cum-selection committee, advertisement of posts, scrutiny of applications, interaction with the shortlisted candidates, getting vigilance clearances, approval of the competent authority, etc, hence, no timeframe can be indicated.”