AMU Murshidabad centre may hit pause button with powerless V-C

The stalemate in Aligarh Muslim University,where Vice-Chancellor P K Abdul Azis has been asked by ministry of HRD not to take any decision till he retires,is likely to hit the development plans at its Murshidabad campus.

The stalemate in Aligarh Muslim University,where Vice-Chancellor P K Abdul Azis has been asked by ministry of HRD not to take any decision till he retires,is likely to hit the development plans at its Murshidabad campus.

The academic session at Murshidabad campus began in March this year and the university has already allocated for its developments plans Rs 50 crore in its 2011-12 annual budget and Rs 25 crore in 2010-11 budget. For its development,the university was assigned about 280 acres of land at Ahiran and it was inaugurated in November last year by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

“Only two courses (Law and MBA) started this year. We were planning to have a polytechnic and a girls’ college,but now it is uncertain when they will come up in the present circumstances,” Moinul Hasan,the Left MP (Rajya Sabha) from West Bengal said. He told the Indian Express over phone that since the 11th plan period is drawing to a close,it will be difficult to fill in the hundreds of the vacant posts in the university.

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Although there has been criticism in academic circles about a letter from the ministry of HRD where an under-secretary from the ministry in a letter ‘restrained the vice-chancellor from making any decision related to appointment and promotion and also from taking any policy decision pertaining to executive and academic functioning of the university until his retirement from the office on June 17,2012’ .

Hasan,also the university’s court member based in Murshidabad,has written to the Prime Minister against the letter and raised the issue in the Parliament.

In his letter written to the PM on August 26,Hasan has pointed out that it is an ‘illegal attack on the autonomy of the university’. “ It shows complete disregard of the immediate and long-lasting effects on the teaching and functioning of one of the esteemed institutions of learning and advancement in the country.”

Charges of financial misconduct are believed to be the main reason for the ministry’s letter.

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On the same day,the member also raised the issue in the Zero hour of the Parliament where he said the letter to the V-C from the ministry in the name of Visitor did not refer to any provision of the AMU.

The Left MP said this was an unprecedented incident so far as the functioning of the university is concerned.

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