The procedures to make appointments to senior positions shall be made transparent to enhance the credibility of Indian Universities

The UGC regulations were amended in 2016 to specify the rules for appointment of Vice Chancellors at Universities. The reforms included setting up of a Search cum Selection Committee (SCSC) comprising of a nominee of the chancellor, a nominee of Board of Management and a nominee of the Central Government/ UGC.

The IIM Act 2017 was notified in February 2018 proposed to provide IIMs with the power to appoint their own Directors and Chairpersons. The Act is designed to increase the autonomy of IIMs. Since then, the Government has also notified the rules. This is a serious progress taken by the Government.

Since only the appointment process of the Vice-Chancellors has been amended not of other senior positions such as Pro-Vice Chancellors, Deans, Principals, and Registrars who also form senior positions, the performance against this promise is not adequate.

It deserves to be mentioned that multiple senior members including Dr. Amartya Sen and George Deo (Both from Nalanda University), RK Shevgaonkar (IIT Delhi) and Anil Kakodkar (IIT Bombay) have resigned since 2014 citing attack on autonomy and disagreements with the BJP government amid other reasons.