‘Conflict of interest’ hits Vice-Chancellors aspirants

According to sources, except for one present V-C, nine other incumbent V-Cs applied seeking another term

Hyderabad: The Higher Education Department that issued notification for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors to 10 State universities is caught in a fix. A few professors, nominated by the respective universities’ Executive Councils (ECs) to the search committee that selects candidates for the coveted post, are also in the race for the V-C position. This has resulted in a conflict of interest since the applicants cannot be part of the selection committee.

The department is facing another peculiar situation. According to sources, except for one present V-C, nine other incumbent V-Cs applied seeking another term. These are the same V-Cs under whose chairmanship universities ECs nominated the eligible candidates to the search panel. The department officials are apprehensive that it may lead to favouritism.

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Apart from incumbent V-Cs, the Telangana State Council of Higher Education officials have also thrown their hat in the ring. Another issue that cropped up is that, a TSCHE senior official, whose position is tasked with scrutiny of V-C applications, is also in the race for the V-C post.

“The department will relook into the search panel names and may go in for new persons so that there is no conflict of interest,” sources said. With the tenure of the present V-Cs concluding in the last week of May, the State government initiated steps to ensure that new V-Cs take charge on the day the incumbent demits office. A notification was issued for which 312 professors evinced interest for the positions, who filed a total of 1,382 applications with some applying for multiple universities.