As colleges in the state are facing a severe crunch of principals, Dr Rajan Welukar, who was appointed the vice chancellor of the Mumbai University on Thursday, has made the issue top priority.
As colleges in the state are facing a severe crunch of principals, Dr Rajan Welukar, who was appointed the vice chancellor of the Mumbai University on Thursday, has made the issue top priority.
In 2008, the Bombay High Court had said that colleges without principals faced the prospect of losing university affiliation and thus, Welukar has decided to encourage senior professors to enroll for PhDs so that there is no dearth of candidates for the posts and students are not affected.
"Along with the Mumbai University, the University Grants Commission too is trying to find a solution to the problem.
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So far, colleges without principals have been granted permission to admit students on interim orders of the
High Court.
Last week, however, the Supreme Court gave a six-month deadline for nearly 500 such colleges in Maharashtra to appoint principals, failing which they would face the danger of being de-affiliated and banned from admitting students from the next academic year.
T Shiware, principal of Hinduja College and chairperson of the Non-Government College Principal Association, said, "Despite the HC directive, it has become difficult for most colleges to find a candidate, who has the requisite 15-year experience as an approved lecturer of the university as well as a PhD.
Some colleges also don't want to appoint principals because of the salaries. Students may suffer because of this."
Dattatray Kate, deputy registrar, University of Mumbai, said, "Colleges are making efforts and have even been placing advertisements to recruit lecturers, but what can they do if they are not getting qualified candidates? From this year, there will also be a CET exam for the candidates.
There are principals whose approvals are being processed and the problem may be resolved within six months."u00a0
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