The Karnataka High Court order setting aside the removal of seven medical professionals who were nominated to the Senate and Syndicate of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) should be a warning to the state government to stop politicisation of academic posts.
In the absence of any valid and reasonable ground for ejecting the members before the end of their term, the court has debunked the “pleasure of the government” doctrine, observing that the “removal came about after a change in the ruling dispensation and hence a political bias cannot be ruled out.” All these members, who were appointed by the previous government, have now been reinstated. Such arbitrary removal as they suffered clouded their reputations and portrayed them as stooges of a particular party without justification. Universities should be insulated from politics. The government should strictly avoid appointing or axing people based on their political leanings.
The court has rightly observed that “even academicians are being enslaved to the delusion of so-called power in posts which demand academic excellence. Appointments are sought to be changed to suit political considerations, resulting even in eminent people being treated with disdain.” Unfortunately, this is often the reality, with caste and political leanings playing a role in university appointments right from the post of vice-chancellors downward.
The malaise is so deep-rooted now that the Governor, who in his capacity as Chancellor of state universities is mandated to uphold the integrity of the universities, appointed recently a controversial principal of a private dental college as the interim vice-chancellor of RGUHS, in contravention of all precedents and convention, that too without even consulting the medical education minister.
The court order will hopefully prevent arbitrariness in removal of eminent personalities from academic posts at the whims and fancies of the government in power in future. Where appointments are for a definite tenure, it is imperative that those appointed are not disturbed unless there are valid reasons which are recorded and can be scrutinised. Universities should remain centres of distinction, not handmaidens of politicians nor steppingstones to politics for appointees or sinecures for those who could not be accommodated elsewhere. Unless the government and politicians at the helm of affairs are committed to excellence in higher education and strictly keep politics and other extraneous considerations out, our universities and our higher education system will go to seed.
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