Division of university departments on ad hoc basis

The Principal Secretary, Kiran Vijay Singh, has instructed universities in
the state to put a hold on reconstitution, restructuring and division of
teaching departments that bypass all procedures and formalities. In a letter
issued, she has asked various universities to keep a status quo till they get
permission from the competent agency.

The letter has one again posed a question mark over the status of five
newly-carved teaching departments in Barkatullah University, which were formed
without fulfilling requisite formalities. The VC, Barkatullah University, Dr
Harshvardhan Tiwari, had ordered that the Department of Microbiology and
Biotechnology and the Department of Physics and Electronics be divided. The
Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology were bifurcated, and Dr Anil
Prakash was declared the Head of Biotechnology Department, while Professor PS
Bisen was left with only the Department of Microbiology.

The Department of Physics and Electronics, too, were bifurcated and Dr AK
Gwal was made its new Head, whereas Dr RK Pandey was left only with Department
of Physics. The decision was announced all of a sudden and no due procedures
were allegedly fulfilled.

However, the University Executive Council, endorsed the decision of the VC
with the rider to fulfill all requisite formalities, which includes permission
from the state's Department of Higher Education.

She has also nominated the HoD of Computers, the University Computer Center
and the University Science Instrumentation Center (USIC). Prof RK Pandey was
earlier holding the additional charge of these departments. However, under the
new dispensation, Dr Anil Gupta was appointed the Head of the University
Computer Center, with additional charge of the Computers Department, and Dr NC
Sharma was made the new Head of the University Science Instrumentation Center.

Another letter from Singh has fuelled controversy in the University over a
building grant by the University Grants Commission to the University, say
reports. Singh, in a letter written on June 29, 2001, to universities, had asked
that they appraise the state's Department of Higher Education in case the
universities find it difficult to utilize the building grant received from the
University Grants Commission. Administration was asking the Director, Department
of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Dr PS Bisen, to release the money for the
construction of a separate building from the department's funds. Though Dr Bisen
was of the opinion that the university should instead use the building grant it
has received from the University Grants Commission. The letter has, insofar as
this story is concerned, augmented Dr Bisen's point of view.

(CNS)