Nine varsities do not have full-time V-Cs

Hyderabad: The government has preferred to appoint yet another Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer as an in-charge Vice-Chancellor of Telugu University. It replaced V. Anil Kumar, who retired recently, with Neetu Prasad, who took charge of all his departments.

It’s been close to six months since the nine state universities are being administered by bureaucrats.

An official from a state university said that several officials from the university “are complaining about the fact that the varsities are being handled by officers from non-academic backgrounds. We thought it’s a temporary measure but it's been a long time and the government needs to take a decision soon.”

More than half the academic year has passed and examinations will start soon, which requires the supervision of an academician as an in-charge if not full time V-C. The IAS officers are already handling two to three portfolios each and the universities are an additional burden, say student representatives.

Search committees constituting three members each were formed in September to nominate three people to the government, of which one person would be appointed V-C. However, the final decision is still pending