Ravenshaw United Forum: 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

Ravenshaw: Will new V-C succeed in breaking tainted legacy?

SATURDAY, 26 NOVEMBER 2011 23:44

BASUDEV MALLIK | BHUBANESWAR

Now that the new Vice-Chancellor of Ravenshaw University has taken over, after much debate over the question of a new incumbent to the top post in the wake of the retirement of Debdas Chhotroy on completion of a consecutive second term, the intellectuals and the academia are far from satisfied as they are still skeptical about the tainted legacy being obliterated, making way for a clean, congenial and healthy atmosphere within the campus and without.

As the new Vice-Chancellor Baishnab Charan Tripathy, so far a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, joined the coveted post on Friday, there prevailed a jubilant mood among those concerned with higher education for one reason at least that Prof Tripathy is an academic with a clean personality irrespective of his capability for energetic lobbying which many ignore as a common trend in a world of politicking and cutthroat competition.

But their so-called ecstatic mood proved transient the moment the hovering shadow of a tainted culture created in the past years flashed again, generating a critical question- will the new Vice-Chancellor carry on casually or initiate measures to restore the glory the Ravenshaw University once basked in by mending the wrongs his predecessor has forced upon the heritage institution?

They suggest creation of non-statutory posts, not sanctioned by the Government, arbitrarily to satisfy vested interest and imposition of a heavy financial burden on the nascent university thereby must go once for all. Citing the instances of Biju Mathews and Chinmoy Mohapatra, whose appointments cost the university’s exchequer minimum Rs 2,00,000 they are the real financial managers on constructions in the absence of a finance committee and the Registrar is relegated to the background with the exception of signing prepared drafts.

Contractual postings are galore while the staff of the erstwhile Ravenshaw College, who managed the affairs of the university till things were set rolling, are yet to be absorbed in the university set-up.

The Registrar and the Controller of Examinations hand-picked from among the faculty have made things awry for having no full authority over their respective spheres. While the Registrar has practically no role in financial matters, paucity of faculty members and obstinate nature of the CoE have made the entire system topsy-turvy. Even the university is not capable enough to manage self-finance courses, transferring them to private parties under MoU provisions.

The most short-sighted and eccentric step taken during the tenure of the outgoing VC is that while there are not sufficient classrooms, resulting in the reduction in the number of classes, and no teachers’ sitting rooms and department blocks, an ambitious project was taken up for construction of a Convention Hall at a cost of Rs9,83,19,000. While the executing agency IDCO has received Rs3.5 crore, the balance amount payable is Rs 6,33,19,000 which puts an enormous burden on the new Vice-Chancellor who may have no option to lay his hands on other basic requirements.

In this context they take note of the two proposed hostels for which the Chief Minister lay foundation stones. While the two hostels are badly needed to accommodate the increasing number of students, the ex-VC had issued administrative approval of Rs 3.40 crore for only one girls’ hostel against the IDCO’s estimated cost of Rs 3,69,10,800.

There are so many small but important examples of arbitrariness with which the ex-VC acted and the new VC will be able to learn about these gradually as he adapts himself to the new responsibility. But will he be able to get over the tainted legacy and set things right at the Ravenshaw or act casually and be more interested to just spend a term, covering up what has ‘already been done’?- the skeptics want to know. On the other hand, many hope things may change as Tripathy would prefer safeguarding his own image to getting mired for somebody else’s misdeeds.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/23502-ravenshaw-will-new-v-c-succeed-in-breaking-tainted-legacy.html

Baishnab Tripathy is Ravenshaw V-C

Express News Service

Last Updated : 20 Nov 2011 12:29:59 PM IST

BHUBANESWAR: Prof Baishnab Charan Tripathy was on Saturday appointed Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Ravenshaw University, succeeding Debdas Chhotray.

Tripathy is currently a professor in the School of Life Sciences in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He will hold the post for a period of three years or until further orders.

The office of Governor and Chancellor of Universities Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare announced appointment of two V-Cs on the day, including that of Tripathy.

Prof Bijay Kumar Nanda is made V-C of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla. At present, Nanda is a professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering in National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela.

Both Nanda and Tripathy are known to be outstanding academicians with a host of research publications, both in national and international journals, to their credit.

http://expressbuzz.com/states/orissa/baishnab-tripathy-is-ravenshaw-v-c/335102.html

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Bid to gain stamp of legitimacy for Ravenshaw misdeeds

SATURDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2011 00:05

PNS | BHUBANESWAR

Chhotray, who has since been calling himself as the "lame-duck V-," has been inviting prominent personalities to the campus to what his critics say "to legitimise the questionable deeds he has done vitiating the academic atmosphere in the university." According to sources, Chhotray, who is retiring at attaining the age of 65, is interested for extension of his term in view of certain quarters carrying on a campaign for cancellation of the recent decision of the Search Committee on a new Vice-Chancellor. The committee, as per the procedure, selected a panel of three names out of about 100 candidates, which is now with the Chancellor (State Governor) for choosing one after an interaction with them by the end of this month.

Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra, who is known as the principal political adviser of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, was invited to the campus to inaugurate the Ravenshaw Amphitheatre on Friday. Chhotray sought to impress Mohapatra about what he has done during his tenure as the V-C. The outgoing V-C has also invited Chief Minister Patnaik to lay the foundation-stone of a girls' hostel in the campus on Saturday. This programme was only known to the university staff on Friday. It may be recalled that Chhotray had earlier faced a lot of criticism for the alleged misuse of the existing heritage East and West Hostels of the university.

The V-C is also trying to invite the State Governor and university Chancellor MC Bhandare later this month, before his retirement, to attend some programmes.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Ravenshaw: Edward Gait's dream child virtually stillborn

SUNDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2011 23:22

BASUDEV MALLIK | BHUBANESWAR

Laying the foundation stone for the existing campus of the then Ravenshaw College named after Commissioner of Odisha Division TE Ravenshaw in 1919, Governor of Bihar and Odisha Edward Gait had hopefully predicted that the college would one day grow into a university. And that hope flourished and fructified in 2006 in recognition of the historicity and the heritage value of this great seat of learning. But critics of the present situation say true, Gait's dream came true only procedurally and cosmetically, virtually giving birth to a stillborn baby.

In fact, a university is a place of excellence where there is arduous churning to invent newer horizons of knowledge. Things at the Ravenshaw started with the right note, nay, rather with a big bang but in a span of less than five years it all appears to have ended up in a whimper.

Sources said apart from the bungling in selection appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff, the Vice-Chancellor created a mesh by putting the cart before the horse and failed to found a robust administrative structure purely for administrative and mechanical jobs. In order to exercise absolute control over everything, he put pet faculty members and a few others with absurd and unwarranted designation in charge of administration. Was it due to a crisis of confidence or a display of too much of wile, the sources questioned?

They said when members on the faculty are conferred with responsibilities other than their original assignments it naturally takes an ugly toll on quality teaching. And that is what has happened when professors and readers are put in charge of Registrars, Deputy Registrars, Controller of Examinations as there have been no regular appointments to these posts.

There are many notional posts and designation like Controller of Curricula (COC), Dean Administration, without clear cut division of responsibility. The COC ended up in conducting PhD Entrance examination and time table finalisation. Similarly, the Chairperson, Council of Deans, which is equivalent to the Chairperson, PG Council, is reduced to conducting mid-semester examination. In the process, the VC ended up in battering one post holder's esteem by inflating the esteem of the other post holder. In the process, he failed to set in motion a robust system. Posts have been created and designations have been bestowed as an overlord does in conferring honorific titles on eligible subjects, the sources alleged.

They further pointed out the V-C is simultaneously the Chief Executive of the institution as well as the Chairperson of the Syndicate or Executive Council. The Syndicate or Executive Council is the main watchdog of a university, which demands accountability from the Chief Executive Officer. Ironically, the V-C chairs such meeting of the Executive Council whereas the campus is abuzz with allegations of financial mismanagement under the V-C's nose.

Stating that complete lack of transparency in decision-making and finances is a significant hallmark of the present dispensation, the sources said the Registrar was sidelined in many issues. Her signature was scanned and put in various advertisements without her knowledge. Appointment letters are issued on the verbal order of the Vice- Chancellor. While the Registrar is statutorily the hub of daily administration, the 'Executive Secretary' (an unauthorised post in the process of regularization) to the Vice-Chancellor takes decision, including approval of money on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor. The Ravenshaw University is running without a regular budget for the last three years. The sources termed it as an utter state of anarchy but an efficacious method of fishing in troubled water. "The more the anarchy is, the greater is the potential for spoils," they said.

Citing another example, they said when there is huge expenditure on various projects, no building committee or finance committee has been constituted to oversee all these which are controlled by one Biju Mathews who has become an omnipotent factor in financial matters.

Whereas in a unitary university, each department is a fully functional autonomous unit and the evaluation system in a semester set up needs to be teacher-led and continuous, there is no need for centralisation. But in the Ravenshaw, the entire academic system is trivialised in the name of evaluation. Examination is being conducted for 50 days in a semester, leaving only 4o days for teaching. There should be an examination calendar not exceeding 10 days in a semester, the sources argued and added that the examination system should be decentralised and made an affair of the respective department. Subjects which require some degree of coordination need to be thrashed out by the HoDs and the Deans, they said.

In yet another instance of arbitrary decision, the university, without any tender, had assigned the automation work of the examination section to XIMB. A sum of Rs 10 lakh was paid to the XIMB. Rather than meeting the specific requirement and creating a customised software, the XIMB gave a generic software as a result of which the old system of tabulation and result publication still continues.

But V-C Devdas Chhotray, when contacted, denied the allegations, saying there was no necessity for constituting any building committee or finance committee as all funds received from the Government for construction purpose are handed over to three public sector agencies executing the works.

He justified his chairmanship in various councils as is vogue in universities across India. On allegations as to software purchase from the XIMB, the V-C said the software was comparatively much cheaper for many valid reasons and the university has saved much money on that count. Besides, registration of names, payment of salary and many more are now being processed through this software. He asserted that there has been no financial irregularity during his incumbency and everything in the university is being conducted in a very transparent manner.

Panel to meet today to select new V-C

The Ravenshaw University, Cuttack is on the threshold of entering into a new phase of its administration as its first Vice-Chancellor Devdas Chhotray, after completing two terms, is retiring on November 24 on completion of his 65 years of age. A three-member Search and Selection Committee, appointed to facilitate the process of choosing a new incumbent, is going to have its meeting on Monday to consider the applications of as many as 100 aspirants for the post.

The Search and Selection Committee, headed by former Chief Secretary of Odisha Debi Prasad Bagchi, has Prof Susheela Kaushik of the Delhi University and Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard Deemed University, New Delhi Dr GN Quazi as its two other members. While Bagchi is the nominee of the Ravenshaw University's Executive Council, Prof Kaushik and Dr Quazi are the nominees of the university's Chancellor (State Governor) and the University Grants Commission (UGC), respectively.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/15460-ravenshaw-edward-gaits-dream-child-virtually-stillborn.html