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For more than 12 years now, Saurashtra University (SU) — which is among the biggest universities of Gujarat in terms of the number of enrolled students — hasn’t had a regular registrar. After dithering for nine years, the SU finally shortlisted a candidate for the post in June last year but the selection is still awaiting approval of the state government.
With its main campus in Rajkot, the varsity has around three lakh enrolled students, making it one of the largest state-funded universities. It has jurisdiction over Rajkot, Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, and Amreli districts. In 2014, the SU also became the first university of Gujarat to be accredited A grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
However, the university hasn’t had a regular registrar since Gajendra Jani was removed from the post on June 21, 2011, following a Gujarat High Court order that ruled that Jani didn’t meet the eligibility criteria for the post. Jani had assumed charge in May 2007 but his selection and subsequent appointment was challenged in the High Court on the grounds that he didn’t have the required qualification to hold the post.
A lowdown
Since Jani’s removal, the university has had six individuals serving as in-charge registrars for a total of nine terms: JM Mamtora, Ramesh Parmar, Dhiren Pandya, Jatin Soni, Nilesh Soni, and Amit Parekh.
Among them, Mamtora, the former controller of examination (COE), and Jatin Soni, who retired as the director of physical education of SU, served for a single term of 16 days and one year, respectively. Parmar, a deputy registrar, served as in-charge registrar for three terms (August 2011 to October 2014; July 23, 2015, to August 9, 2015, and December 2018 to June 2020). Pandya, a deputy registrar who was promoted as an academic officer, was appointed in-charge registrar twice (October 2014 to July 2015 and August 2015 to December 2018).
Nilesh Soni, who was the librarian of the SU, was appointed in-charge registrar in July 2021, and he held that post till February 4, 2022. Parekh, a deputy registrar, was appointed in-charge registrar on February 4, 2022, and continues to hold the post till date.
Records accessed by The Indian Express show that SU initiated the process for recruiting registrars thrice during these years but has failed to get a regular officer so far. The varsity had advertised the vacancy in July 2013 and again in August 2015 but no candidates were called for personal interviews. The SU issued a third employment notice on June 27, 2019, after a direction from the state education department following instructions from the then chief minister of Gujarat to fill up posts of registrars in 15 state-run universities. The direction from the Chief Minister had come after a meeting with vice-chancellors and registrars or in-charge registrars of these universities on June 18, 2019, records show. In response to the SU’s latest advertisement, 25 candidates applied for the post, including Gitesh Joshi, a deputy registrar with SU who has served as registrar at Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, and Govind Guru University, Godhra, among others. Other applicants included deputy registrar Parmar, Harish Ruparelia, the municipal secretary of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), and Arvindkumar Dhaduk, then in-charge registrar of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat. An SU scrutiny committee meeting held on January 9, 2020, concluded that nine out of the 25 applicants met the eligibility criteria.
Citing alleged irregularities during his tenure as registrar of other universities, a meeting of the syndicate or the executive council of the SU on June 9, 2022, decided not to call Joshi for an interview for filling up any vacancy in the SU. Eventually, the selection committee called eight candidates for personal interviews on June 20, 2022. Only two of them — Dhaduk and Ruparelia — turned up. After interviewing them, the selection committee recommended Ruparelia’s name for the appointment as registrar for a term of five years.
On June 24, 2022, the in-charge registrar of SU wrote to the deputy secretary in the state’s Education Department, seeking the department’s approval to appoint Ruparelia, who used to teach mechanical engineering at Lakhdhirji Engineering College, Morbi, before joining the RMC in 1996, as registrar. A year on, the SU is still waiting for a response from the government.
‘Custodian of university’
Prof Girish Bhimani, who was appointed in-charge vice-chancellor of SU on February 6, 2022, says the varsity desperately needs a regular registrar. “The registrar is the custodian of a university. His post is as important in a university setup as that of the chief secretary in a state government. We need a regular registrar for better administration of SU,” he says. Why has SU not filled up the post for 12 years? In response to the question, Prof Bhimani said, “For one reason or the other, the SU administration didn’t even call candidates for personal interviews after inviting applications for the post of registrar in the past. It is we who have mustered the courage to conduct personal interviews for posts of registrar and controller of examination, shortlist a candidate for appointment, and send his name to the state government for its concurrence,” the in-charge V-C said.
The SU selection committee shortlisted Nilesh Soni for the post of controller of examination in June last year and he assumed charge weeks later. His appointment did not require the state governmen’t approval.
“It is true that more than a year has passed since we sent to the government the name selected by the SU selection committee for the post of registrar. But our limitation is that we can only recommend and write to the government. We can’t do anything beyond that,” Prof Bhimani added. Dharam Kambalia, a member of the SU syndicate said that posts of registrars in most of the other government-run varsities are vacant. “Registrar is like the chief executive who ensures the enforcement of orders and decisions taken by the syndicate and the office of vice-chancellor. Without a regular registrar, the administration of varsity is hampered,” Kambalia said, adding that repeated pleas to the government in this regard haven’t elicited a positive response so far.
An SU insider said that over the past one decade, registrars changed as per the will of some of the members of the syndicate. “Some of the members of the SU syndicate remained too powerful for the better part of the past decade as the varsity got VCs who were somewhat pliant. Therefore, syndicate members used to call all the shots and get an acting registrar removed if he or she showed them the rule book. This jostling for control of SU meant that the varsity administration could never complete the process to recruit a regular registrar,” said the person who claimed to be privy to details. Another insider said that party politics has penetrated deep inside the SU affairs. “Of late, some functionaries have started treating SU as a backyard supplementing the political agenda of the political party they pledge their allegiance to. This means that academic priorities and interests of students take a backseat, and pliant officers are installed in important offices,” said the insider. “In order to force varsities to recruit a new registrar in due course after incumbent completes his or her term, the present laws provide to pay charge allowance to an in-charge registrar for one year only.”
All this while, the university’s academic performance has suffered with the NAAC lowering its ranking to a B grade in 2021.
Meanwhile, the state government says that SU’s selection of Ruparelia is still under consideration. “SU’s communication seeking approval for appointing Ruparelia as registrar is still under the consideration of deputy secretary,” a senior officer of the Education Department said on the condition of anonymity.
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