Too many vice-chancellors in too short a time have slowed down the functioning of Patna University in the past two years.

The newly appointed interim vice-chancellor (VC) of the university, Arun Kumar Sinha, has a daunting task ahead to complete the administrative works that are either pending or have been stalled.

Generally, a VC is appointed for three years. But after the completion of tenure of Shyam Lal in January 2011, the university has seen four VCs, including Sudipto Adhikari, Shambhu Nath Singh, Upendra Kishore Sinha and now Arun Kumar Sinha.

This has resulted in piling up of important administrative as well as academic works.

M.N. Sinha, a senior teacher with Patna Science College, said: “There are works, which need to be addressed as soon as possible. The promotion list of teachers has to be made, an ad hoc arrangement for appointment of teachers and final touches to introduce the semester system in undergraduate courses remain pending.”

Sinha added that the process to clear these pending works had started last year. “Files had moved when Shambhu Nath Singh was the VC but it got stuck midway because of the uncertainty prevailing in the university over frequent changes in the VC’s post,” he said.

The promotions of around 100 teachers appointed in 2003 and 40 in 1996 are pending. The university, last year, had initiated steps in this direction by constituting a committee to assess the promotions. However, the frequent change in guard has put brakes on the process.

On the other hand, in July-August 2013, around 35 teachers would retire. Keeping this in mind, the university in 2012 had initiated steps to make ad hoc arrangement of teachers. The university had even prepared a list of persons who were to be appointed on ad hoc basis. But the file is waiting for a final clearance from the university head.

The three-month uncertainty over who would be the next VC could be gauged from the fact that Patna University Students’ Union (Pusu) got its office on April 2, after waiting for more than 110 days since the election was conducted.

The students’ body is yet to get a rulebook that would help them run the union effectively. Pusu general secretary Anshu Kumari said: “The election was held on December 11 (2012). The then VC, Shambhu Nath Singh, had assured us that we would get a rulebook soon. We had also requested acting VC U.K. Sinha to provide us the rulebook. But no one paid heed to our demand.”

Sources said on the demand of the students’ union, the university has finally prepared a statute that would be provided to students after the senate, syndicate and Raj Bhavan approve it.

Preparing a revised syllabus for undergraduate courses remains to be finalised.

The university is planning to introduce semester system in undergraduate courses from the coming academic session. In that case, a new syllabus is a must.

Last year, Shambhu Nath Singh had introduced entrance tests at the undergraduate level, which invited the state government’s ire.

However, Singh pushed for the entrance test after getting an approval from Raj Bhavan.

The interim VC, Arun Kumar Sinha assured that there was no confusion about the entrance test because the university would continue with the process unless Raj Bhavan raises an objection.

“More than two months are left for the entrance tests. We are hopeful that it would be taken care of by then. Regarding the other pending works, I have just joined office and I am checking all the records. I cannot set a time frame as of now,” the VC told The Telegraph.