Four months down the line, UoP's registrar post vacant

Though a registrar is an important post in any university since the role includes being the administrative head of the varsity, still this position at the University of Pune (UoP) has been vacant for the past four months.

The university administration does not seem to be in any hurry to ensure the post is filled, besides placing an advertisement on its website. After Dr M L Jadhav was relieved from the post on August 29 last year, the university posted an official advertisement on its website on August 18.

Major gap: The University of Pune and (inset) Vice-Chancellor Dr W N Gade. File pics

Though the university has received a total of 52 applications for the post from across the state till September 30, 2012, which was the last day for sending in applications, nothing concrete has been done thereafter.

A senior senate member of the UoP, Dr Gajanan Ekbote, expressed the need for Vice-Chancellor Dr W N Gade to look into the matter. "The V-C has all the rights to constitute an expert committee for interview. He has to take the lead," Ekbote said.

According to sources, the university administration has shortlisted 25 candidates for interviews. But the varsity has to give one-month notice before conducting interviews, and till date the UoP has not served any such notice.

When contacted, Jadhav said that he had done all the procedural work before being relieved by the UoP. "I served the one-month notice after submitting my resignation. During my tenure I published an advertisement for the appointment of new registrar," Jadhav said.

The committee, which conducts interviews for the registrar post, consists of two management council members and one dean of any faculty of the university. Besides those, three experts of other universities are required to complete the process.

According to reliable sources from the top brass of the UoP, till now the member of the committee have been changed twice for various reasons.

Gade had said that the interviews would be held tentatively in the first week of February 2013. "The procedure to short list applications, cross check online and authenticate hand delivered applications before scheduling interviews is lengthy," Gade said.

He rubbished claims that members of the interviewing committee were changed before. "I just now constituted the committee and we are fixing dates for interviews soon," Gade said. u00a0

For want of a registrar
An administrative head or registrar is responsible for all recruitment at the university. For appointments of teachers, the registrar acts as the secretary of the recruitment committee and for non-teaching post, he is the chairperson. The UoP is already facing a manpower crunch, as 30 per cent of the teaching posts in various departments are currently vacant. In the past four months, two senior professors of the UoP have handled the charge of officiating registrar to manage operations.