Higher Education in Bihar yet to feel the touch of his magical hand. -CM

PATNA: Even as the Nitish government has been able to bring in considerable improvement in the working of different sectors in the state, higher education is yet to feel the touch of his magical hand.
Academics feel almost all the universities are being run on an ad hoc basis and most teachers and non-teaching staff are involved in litigations. More than half a dozen committees have been constituted by the chancellor and the state government during the last three decades, yet things have only moved from bad to worse. Instead of implementing the recommendations of these committees, the powers that be prefer setting up of a fresh committee.
In the late seventies, the V S Jha University Inquiry Committee, constituted by the then chancellor, A R Kidwai, had suggested widespread reforms in the university. Then in the eighties, another committee headed by the late K N Sahay had also recommended some concrete measures for improving the fiscal system of the universities. Then, on the initiative of the state government, the posts and payscales of teachers and non-teaching staff of all the universities were thoroughly examined by the government auditors between 1991 and 1996 at Patna University Guest House.
Again, in the nineties itself, on the instructions of the Patna high court, a special audit cell of the state government examined the pay and posts of all the teachers and non-teaching staff of all the universities and issued entitlement slip to individual staff. Recently, the government deputed over a dozen auditors in each university for pre-audit work to ensuring fiscal discipline.
Academics have taken strong exception to the recent cabinet decision to set up an estimate committee to assess the number of sanctioned posts and validity of appointments, promotions, pay fixation and payment of arrears in the universities and urged the CM not to allow the bureaucrats to complicate the issues.
Federation of University Teachers' Associations of Bihar (Futab) working president K B Sinha said that instead of settling the claims of teachers and non-teaching staff with regard to payment of their arrears, the government has initiated steps for lingering the matter and harassing the university staff. Constitution of the present committee is aimed at misleading the HC and delaying the release of funds for payment of arrears, he said, adding that a large number of such probe committees have already been constituted by the government without any tangible results.
Bihar State University and College Employees' Federation president Ganga Prasad Jha said by setting up yet another committee, the government wants to intimidate the university staff and delay the payment of their hard-earned money. The government is not interested in streamlining higher education as the process of appointment has been stalled by it through an executive order despite the fact that thousands of posts are lying vacant for the last several years, he added.