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

Shocking irregularities galore in Ravenshaw Varsity postings

SUNDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2011 00:19

BASUDEV MALLIK | BHUBANESWAR

The Ravenshaw University in Cuttack was conceived to act independently for promotion of high standards in teaching, institutional management and an ideal atmosphere to fortify the glorious past of the historical institution, originally having its inception as the Ravenshaw College. Nobody expected that things would go awry so soon with the State's premiere educational institute turning into a free pasture for vested interests, that too at the behest of its top manager, the Vice-Chancellor, sources said.

Despite university Vice-Chancellor Devdas Chhotray having his own arguments on the issue, gross irregularities in the posting of teaching and non-teaching staff in violation of set norms, bungling in expenditures on construction works in violation of rules, unwarranted and unwanted appointment of officials to act according to the master’s dictates and undue favour to a few to maintain a band of sycophants are only a few instances which are fraught with details that tell big stories, according to the sources. They rued that the Ravenshaw University has no more remained the lofty Ravenshaw of the past that churned out educationists, scientists, freedom fighters and intellectuals who carved out a special niche for the State in the national and international arena.

When one looks at the posting of faculty members, it is like this: After the candidates were once short-listed, an aggregate of 70 was arbitrarily fixed (through a verbal understanding of the Selection Board) as the cutoff mark for selection interview for the post of Professors. Professors in Botany, Economics, English, Hindi and History were posted accordingly but professors in Political Science and Geology were posted even though the candidates secured less than 70. Professor Niranjan Barik who secured 67.5 was offered contractual posting as Adjunct Professor. Professor Nachiketa Das, a dual citizen of India and Australia, who secured only 61.5 and has no much teaching and research experiences, also comfortably got through with a regular professor's post! Though with no statutory designation, he is vested with almost all administrative powers.

It may be mentioned here that Das, whose selection as professor has been challenged in the Odisha High Court, has been put in charge of chairing the selection process of contractual appointments at the sweet will of the VC. Several queries sought from Das on different issues relating to his professional experiences under the RTI Act have not yet been complied with.

Besides, non-teaching staff like Executive Secretary; Director, Knowledge Centre; Development Officer; Media Officer and System Administrator were appointed as per the vice-chancellor's choice. The postings got post-facto approval by a self-appointed committee with hand-picked members and without any external members in the so-called panel. Appointment of Ramaswamy as Director, Knowledge Centre was made against objections by the DHE nominee, the sources informed.

Although the non-teaching staff provided by the Government at the initial stage gave their option to continue under the university, the authorities have written to the Government to take back the staff, without giving them any scope to face interviews. The authorities have attributed the reason to their lack of knowledge in computer, although both public and private organisations not only in Odisha but all over the country are known to have reoriented their existing staff to computer literacy which has proved quite effective.

Not only this, the contractual appointments were made in violation of reservation norms.

There have been serious allegations that candidates were chosen first and criteria for recruitment were laid down later. A number of spouse cases - in the Departments of Physics, Chemistry and Mathmatics - are also noticed. In the Department of Science, the wife of an adviser of a vocal students' organisation was was given appointment to appease the leader. Besides, another relation of this gentleman was also appointed on contractual basis. One professor who does not have the qualification to be appointed as a professor, is put in charge of the whole contractual appointment affair.

In the selection of regular faculty, violation of reservation norms shows up prominently. In Applied Geography three out of four lecturer posts are reserved while in other departments the distributions are either Zero or one, pointing to unequal advantages for various departments. Not to be surprised, one of the applicants in the selection of professors in s science departments was a Director's nominee for a selection committee during that interview.

On the other hand, the selection of regular faculty is limited to 83 only against the sanctioned strength of 153 with cases pending against 14 posts. Against this backdrop, appointment of faculty on contractual basis instead of regular selection has raised many eyebrows. Even interviews for Sanskrit and Computer Science have not taken place and the reasons are best known to the VC. In the end, high standard teaching has become a casualty with inexperienced and sub-standard members on the faculty numbering more than 80.

The sources said it all points to a one-man show at the Ravenshaw that suits to an individual's whim which has set in an atmosphere of arbitrary rule that virtually entails many vices, vitiating the sacred halo of high standards in education and educational culture that the Ravenshaw had once blessed itself with under the dedicated guidance and selfless contribution of great souls.

On the other hand, VC Chhotroy, when contacted, said ha was only trying to bring about a radical change in the educational and cultural atmosphere that existed prior to the Ravenshaw becoming a full-fledged university, hoping that the new atmosphere would match that of a modern world-class university and had done no wrong that would, in future, harm the academic ethos.

The VC argued that times have so changed that when a new organisation takes root "you don't find adequate number of people with requisite qualifications coming forward to take up appointments because, for them, the risk factor weighs. But in my view, the selection committee has tried to do the best possible on its part." The contractual appointments, were necessary as a temporary measure due to non-availability of applicants with requisite qualification and experiences, he said.

On allegations over appointment of Prof Nachiketa Das and Knowledge Centre Director Ramaswamy, he said they were the best suitable candidates for the posts with wide-ranging experience and profound knowledge in their respective fields. The VC was happy for his initial contribution to building the university but rued that his detractors, who might have vested interests, have tried time and again to malign him and have not given up their pursuit even when he is on his way out.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/15281-shocking-irregularities-galore-in-ravenshaw-varsity-postings.html

Ravenshaw United Forum

Monday, October 24, 2011