Maharashtra Governor and Chancellor of Universities in the State Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Friday appointed Dr Suhas Raghunath Pednekar, Professor of Chemistry and Principal of Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College, as the new Vice Chancellor of the Mumbai university.
Dr Pednekar’s appointment as new vice chancellor of Mumbai University came more than six months after the Governor sacked Sanjay Deshmukh from the same post over the latter's “gross negligence and failure” to declare on time the results of the University examinations held in the summer of 2017.
The Governor handed over the letter of appointment to Dr Pednekar at Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai.
Dr Pednekar has been appointed as Vice Chancellor for a period of 5 years or till attaining the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.After the removal of Deshmukh from his post as the Mumbai Vice Chancellor on October 24 last year, Vice Chancellor of Kolhapur-headquartered Shivaji University Dr Devanand Shinde was holding the additional charge of the post of Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University.
On his part, the Governor had constituted a Search Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. K Kasturirangan, former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to recommend to him a panel of names suitable for appointment of Vice Chancellor of the University of Mumbai.
Dr Shyam lal Soni, Director, National Institute of Technology, Pauri (Garhwal) Uttarakhand and Bhushan Gagrani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, CIDCO, were the other members of the search Committee. It may be recalled that Deshmukh had an inglorious term as the vice chancellor of Mumbai University.
Invoking the powers conferred upon him under Section 11(14)(e) of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016, the Governor had removed Deshmukh from his post as the Mumbai University’s VC, “for his gross negligence and failure in implementing the On-Screen Marking system, to declare the results of examinations held in Summer-2017 within the time limit prescribed in the Act and for his failure to comply with the directions issued by the Chancellor from time to time, regarding early declaration of results”.
Under section 89 of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, the University is mandated to declare results preferably in 30 days and in no case beyond 45 days.
Rao, who in his capacity as the Governor is chancellor of all universities in Maharashtra, had repeatedly pulled up Deshmukh for the inordinate delay in the declaration of results which derailed the careers of thousands of students seeking admissions to higher courses, admission to foreign universities, appearing for various competitive examinations, besides causing great mental agony to them, parents and other stakeholders.
At the height of the crisis over the delay in the declaration of results, Deshmukh had suddenly proceeded on leave on August 9 “for personal reasons”, thus sparking intense speculation about his impending removal from the post.
Of the total 477 examinations conducted by the University of Mumbai, results of only 51 examinations had been declared till early July this year. Even out of these 51 examinations, results of only 23 examinations had been declared within 30 days while results of 18 examinations were declared within 45 days. All other results were delayed beyond the statutory limit of 45 days.
The delay in the declaration of the Mumbai University results had landed the Governor in acute embarrassment. So much so that the Opposition Congress in Maharashtra had on July 29 demanded that Maharashtra Governor and Chancellor of Universities Ch Vidyasagar Rao accept his “moral responsibility” and resign from his post.
Among other things Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) general secretary Sachin Sawant had charged that the Governor had appointed Deshmukh as the Vice Chancellor merely on the basis of the fact that the latter was linked Rashriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).