- The Indian citizens are quite aware of the political undercurrents being played out between the union government-appointed gubernatorial positions and the duly elected state governments. As experience suggests, governors are appointees of the union government who are almost in the twilight of their careers largely acting as post-political retirement sops. Of course, such appointees are also expected to uphold the institution of governorship by staying neutral to the political happenstances most often than not gets ignored is an undeniable fact. No wonder, the relationship between the governor and the state governments hardly stays harmonious. And the resultant outcome is the bitter slugfest that ensues, sometimes embarrassing situations too.
PC: Devendra Kumar
- Yes, the position of governor is largely ceremonial but essays an extremely important role in upholding the democratic form of governance as enunciated in the Constitution. We know what is happening in Kerala presently which is hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The stand-off between the Kerala government and Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over his attempt to sack vice-chancellors of nine state universities has required a Kerala high court intervention. A bill passed by the assembly that curbs the governor’s powers as chancellor of state universities is pending Khan’s assent. Remember, earlier Bengal and Tamil Nadu had passed bills with chief ministers replacing governors as chancellors.
- Of course, the nub of the issue is the politicization of state universities, what else? So long as a pliant governor is in office problems don’t surface. But governors chosen by rival parties and who are aggressive like Jagdeep Dhankar in Bengal, RN Ravi in Tamil Nadu, and Khan in Kerala have upended this spoils system. The state university issue is another fallout of the BJP vs opposition bitter fight. However, even in states without such tiffs, the rot runs deep. Every government parks its favourites at all levels of higher education. The ostensible justification is that funding comes from the state. So, in Kerala, this would translate into the search committee forwarding just one name for vice-chancellorship instead of a panel of three applicants as per UGC guidelines.
PC: Shipra Parashar
- The governor takes the final call for selecting from the three. Nonetheless, a politically preferred candidate is the chosen one. Yes, faculty positions too see such gaming in full display. On the flip side, enrolment is highest in state government universities but very few among them are in the top 100 in GOI’s NIRF rankings. This is despite a head-start of several decades over newer central and private universities. What is the way to address this recurring problem? To cut out governors and education ministers and other politicians like MLAs from key university roles and to allow the institutions to function autonomously – with fully independent, expert search committees hiring academic talent. Autonomy alone would be the game-changer to enhance quality education.
