Hyderabad: The list of headless universities in Telangana is growing with appointments of vice chancellors not yet in sight.
JNTU Hyderabad joined the list on Sunday, becoming the seventh major university in Telangana without a regular VC. No search committee has been appointed even though offices of vice chancellors have been empty since months. Decision making in the universities has come to a standstill.
The tenure of the VC of JNTU Hyderabad, Prof. R. Rameshwar Rao, ended on Sunday and top officials confirmed that no extension would be given to him. Education minister G. Jagadish Reddy said commissioner of technical cducation Shailaja Ramaiyer will be made in-charge VC at the university. The other universities which do not have a VC are Osmania, Telangana, Kakatiya and B.R. Ambedkar Open University.
Absence of VCs affects Osmania, Kakatiya and JNTU-Hyderabad the most. OU is up for accreditation with a NAAC committee due for inspections in April. “A regular VC is required when the NAAC committee comes for inspection because he would know the problems, issues and solutions inside out. Not having a VC doesn’t augur well,” a former VC said.
Even if the search committee for vice-chancellors is appointed now, it would take at least two to three months to make final appointments. "There will be time if they begin now. But there is no sign of that," the academic said.
It is learnt that pensions in Osmania have not been released since January while plenty of other problems remain unattended to. "If there is a VC, problems can be solved in the university itself. But now it is not like that. The government has to be approached for every small issue and they don't respond," a senior official of Osmania University said.
The perils of not having a VC for JNTU-Hyderabad are also many since it is the centre of academic and technical activity, much more so than Osmania University. Almost all professional colleges are affiliated to JNTU-H and a lot of regulatory activity also goes on.
