Ever since Amartya Sen claimed that it was indeed pressure from the Narendra Modi government that forced him to quit as the Chancellor of Nalanda University, the human resources development minister is having a rough ride. Under fire for not appointing right personnel at key positions in educational institutions across the country, Smriti Irani’s ministry is also being blamed for not acting against controversial office bearers appointed by the previous government.

Film and Television Institute of India, Pune which is facing one of the long drawn agitations since the second week of June by its students over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as its chairperson and five other members in the administration, is only the most high profile of these cases. Questioning the procedure of these appointments, the students have held hunger strikes, boycotted classes and even campaigned in 18 cities across the country to send a message to the HRD ministry but to no avail so far.

Right to Information requests later revealed that Chauhan was the only candidate under consideration for the post and he was selected on the basis of a one-paragraph resume.

While the government maintains that the students should go back to attending classes, the students are adamant to not relent since they fear that the matter will lapse once the media limelight goes away from the institute. On Friday, the students held a press conference and informed the media that their protests will further intensify in the coming weeks as they plan to go around the country and join hands with students at institutions such as Jadavpur University, Delhi University and Ambedkar University among others.

On their plan of action is a potential tie up with students of Pondicherry University where the controversy and protests regarding its Vice Chancellor’s appointments refuse to die down as students launched yet another agitation two weeks ago.

Claiming that this was the result of government’s inaction, FTII students remarked on Friday that they were keen to gather support from Pondicherry University and include their voices in the protest.

'Academic fraud' by Pondicherry University VC
“What is happening at Pondicherry University is nothing but the result of a wrongful appointment,” a student exclaimed during an interaction with the press in Delhi. “The previous government appointed the Vice Chancellor but the current government is not willing to act on it and it is at the root of all the protests.”

In one of the longest running student agitations in recent history, Pondicherry University is up in arms against its Vice Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy who is charged with academic fraud and multiple instances of plagiarism in the books and papers on her resume that apparently got her the job.

Students boycotted classes across campus and went on a hunger strike for more than seven days  in a row after launching their protest on July 27. As the agitation intensified, the Ministry of Human Resources Development sent a two member committee to investigate but there is no decision on the issue yet. The committee, however, managed to further enrage the students by remarking that the VC’s ‘fake CV’ and plagiarism charges have nothing to do with students as it won’t affect their degrees.

Even as the agitation continues without any solution in sight, Pondicherry University is not the only to be having troubles with its appointments.

Appointment spree at Delhi University
Delhi University has had its fair share of controversy regarding rushed appointments in the recent past as multiple interviews for administrative positions were scheduled just months before the current Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh’s term was set to end.

In the last week of July, many back-to-back interviews were scheduled in a rush for posts which had been lying vacant for years raising many eyebrows as the Delhi University Teachers Association claimed that the positions were filled with the Vice Chancellor's preferences kept on priority.

"We fail to understand why these positions that have been lying vacant for years must now be filled up in a matter of days by violating all procedures and norms such as notice period to candidates and proper screening of their antecedents and qualifications,” Nandita Narain, President of the teacher's association was quoted as saying by Zee News.

Even though the university officials claimed everything was according to the rules, the association pointed out the case of a particular candidate who was previously barred by the proctorial board for malpractices during conduct of examinations but he was being considered for the post of Controller for Examinations.

Singh, who most recently faced flak for going ahead with the contentious Choice Based Credit System despite widespread opposition from teachers and students, has now been barred from making any more appointments at the university by the apex body, University Grants Commission.

Modi aide and business tycoon appointed as Chancellor
At the beginning of the year, businessman and known Narendra Modi supporter Zafar Sareshwala was appointed the chancellor of Maulana Azad National University, a move which was termed bizarre by many observers. While speaking to Scroll earlier, he had claimed that he came to know about the announcement only through the newspapers and even though he didn’t have a background in education, his family was associated with educational projects for long enough.

Denying that the appointment had anything to do with his closeness to Modi, he said anyone would bring his friends along instead of enemies. “If I am a CEO of a company, I’d rather have people that I am comfortable with,” he said in his defence. “Nobody is asking about the credentials of the previous chancellor. It is deplorable that I am being blamed.”

Even as the FTII and Pondicherry protests against controversial appointments continue, the Vigilance Investigation Bureau has initiated legal proceedings against former Mumbai University Vice Chancellor Arun Kumar along with a few others for appointments made during his term without following the laid down procedure, manipulation of records, and several other offences including cheating and criminal breach of trust.

Even though the university got its new Vice Chancellor recently, the process of appointment was termed as confidential and opaque by many and the procedure came into question as many details about the process weren’t publicly available further strengthening the argument that the appointment procedures in our educational institutions are in dire need of checks and balances, if not a total overhaul.