Governor asserts himself on VC nominees

HYDERABAD: In a rare instance, governor E S L Narasimhan on Thursday rejected all the three names proposed for the vice-chancellorship of JNTU-Anantapur. He reportedly felt that the state government did not follow the established norms while proposing the three names.However, he cleared nominees (see graphic) for vice-chancellors of five universities from a panel of three names each. This still leaves 12 more universities in the state without a vicechancellor.In the case of JNTUAnantapur, the governor felt that the three names shortlisted by the government were not in accordance of norms. Sources in the Education Department said Narasimhan has asked the government to direct the search committee to send a fresh list of three.Ever since he took over as governor, Narasimhan has insisted that appointment of vice-chancellors should be based purely on merit. It was only after his persuasion that the state government stopped sending to him one name for each vice-chancellor’s post and began sending a shortlist of three, leaving the final choice to the governor.