Two premiere educational institutions run by Central Government in Jharkhand are running without permanent heads since long. Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi (IIM-R) is functioning without a Director since September while Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ) is running without a Vice-Chancellor (VC) since March last year.
The administrative officials in both the cradles are clueless about the present appointment scenario. Director-in-Charge of IIM-R Professor Anindya Sen who is an Economics faculty member of IIM Calcutta said, “We have no news as yet.”
Similarly, Rahul Chaturvedi, a Public Relations staff at CUJ said, “We have no role in the appointment process.” Even the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) officials are reluctant to talk on the issue. MHRD’s Higher Education Deputy Secretary refused to talk, while, other concerned Higher Education officers were busy in meetings.
Meanwhile, some of the students and faculty members of both these institutions felt the standard of the premiere institutions has deteriorated ever since the permanent authority has left. An undergraduate Mass Communication student requesting anonymity said, problems related to quality of meals served in hostel and teaching are no more solved.
“Our former VC DT Khathing was student friendly. But after his farewell, the Acting VC AN Misra or any other faculty member hardly comes forward to support us. As a result, among the two messes, one has been closed and we boys and girls are served meals from the same mess. In such circumstances, I will prefer another reputed university for post graduation,” added the undergraduate student.
likewise, sources at IIM-R said the convocation of the outgoing Post Graduate Diploma batches is being postponed as there is no permanent Director as well as Chairman. “The placement of students has been affected. A few faculty members are useless,” pointed out a source.
Interestingly, CUJ was started in 2009 and IIM-R in 2010. IIM-R’s former Director MJ Xavier and CUJ’s former VC Khating had served the institutions since their inception. Also, they have played a key role in acquiring the permanent land for their institutions at Cheri-Manatu village of Kanke block, claim fraternity of CUJ and IIM.
However, the infrastructure in these land areas could not be developed further as CUJ is frequently inspected by Central Bureau of Investigation while part of the allotted IIM-R campus land is under the possession of locals. Till date CUJ has been carrying out its academic sessions at Brambe and IIM-R at Suchna Bhawan on temporary basis.
After, MJ Xavier, Professor BB Chakrabarti was posted as Director-in-Charge for few months and then Sen was handed over the responsibility. On one side, IIM-R ranks fifth in the 13 IIMs of India, CUJ on the other side ranks tenth among the 40 central universities of the nation.