Yet another decision of the Jaganmohan Reddy Government hit a roadblock now. Legal experts raised objections to the bill passed by the Andhra Pradesh Legislative giving all powers to the Government in appointments of the universities’ Vice-Chancellors. As per the University Grants Commission, a panel of experts should send lists of three names each for a university. It is the Governor who will take the final decision. The UGC brought this rule to eliminate the politicisation of the universities’ campuses.
The UGC laid down these rules way back in 2010. But, the Jagan regime brought a bill last year for giving all powers to the State Government. Accordingly, the AP Government sent a list of only one name for each of the universities to the Governor for his approval. These universities included Sri Venkateswara, Sri Krishnadevaraya, Andhra, etc. On his part, the Governor consulted legal opinion and decided not to okay the file immediately considering the legal issues involved in the process.
The legal experts have apparently told the Governor about the UGC norms which were being followed all over the country. Even if the appointments were made as they were now, that would again run into legal battles. Considering all these things, the Governor returned the file to the Government. Every other decision of the State Government was found to be in violation of some rule or the other. This was posing a serious handicap to the administrators in various departments as the knotty litigation issues were consuming most of the time and energy.
