The Bihar government has asked the state universities to ensure that one person is deputed to one administrative post for smooth functioning.
In a letter to the vice-chancellors (VC) of all state universities, additional chief secretary (education) Dipak Kumar Singh said, “It often comes to light during the review meetings that one person or official handles multiple administrative posts. This not only causes an undue delay in administrative work but also affects the quality.”
He has urged the VCs to stick with the “one officer, one administrative post” policy as far as possible.
“One officer should be authorised to handle more than one post only in case of non-availability of persons with required qualification,” the letter read.
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Most of the state universities in Bihar are known for the tendency of having officials holding additional charge within one or sometimes even multiple state universities for long periods.
Even the VCs, registrars, exam controllers, financial advisors and finance officers have been known for holding additional charges.
Last year, former education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary met the then Governor Phagu Chouhan and flagged rampant ad hocism in the state’s Magadh University, where its four key positions — that of a VC, pro-vice chancellor, registrar and finance officer, were under additional charge during that period.
“The symptom is visible in all the universities. The problem is that the key positions have been revolving around the same set of people over the years despite no perceptible improvement in the outcome,” said a senior education department official.
In some universities, the dean (student welfare) also acts as a registrar, or the principal holds charge of more than one college, while the Bihar state university service commission awaits vacancies to proceed with the proper appointments.
Similarly, a college principal holding the charge of career counselling and development coordinator (CCDC) or professors in charge holding the positions of law officers is also a reality here.
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At present, Prof Shailendra Kumar Chaturvedi, vice-chancellor of Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara, has the additional charge of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, for over a month, while Lalit Narayan Mithila University VC SK Singh holds the additional charge of Aryabhat Knowledge University (AKU), Patna for over two years.
Bihar’s institutions have had a poor track record in fund utilisation despite a resource crunch due to a host of factors, including rampant ad hocism on key posts for years which was often cited as the reason behind their inability to submit timely utilisation to avail further instalments.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) had last year launched a special drive in Patna from August 23 to 28 for the reconciliation of funds granted to state institutions based on utilisation certificates (UCs) submitted by them.
