The government would constitute a search committee for appointing vice-chancellors of the state universities within a month and the hiring process would be completed within 90 days.

Amarjeet Sinha, principal secretary, education, on Friday said: “The search committee would be constituted within a month and the vice-chancellors of all the universities would be appointed within three months.”

The announcement assumes importance as the Supreme Court, too, had passed an order directing the formation of the search committee while squashing the appointments of vice-chancellors and pro-vice-chancellors made by former governor Devanand Konwar.

Since 2010, the state government and the Raj Bhavan were at loggerheads over the appointment of vice-chancellors. Konwar is believed to have had a strained relationship with chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Earlier this year, he had made a number of appointments, which ministers in the Nitish Kumar-led government said had been done without consulting the government. The bench of G.S. Singhvi and V. Gopala Gowda of the Supreme Court squashed the appointments on August 20.

A senior teacher of Patna University, who did not want to be named, said: “The appointments made by Konwar were always a problem for the government. He never followed the due process.”

He added: “Now, if VCs and pro-VCs are appointed by a search committee, it can be expected that reputable academics with good track records would be appointed. They would work for the growth of the universities.”

According to University Grants Commission guidelines, the search committee must have three members — two appointed by the Raj Bhavan and one by the government. Of the two members selected by the Raj Bhavan, one would be the chairperson.