Appointment delays and ad hoc arrangements in key positions at top higher educational institutions and policy-making organisations under the education ministry have become routine.

Last month, the government got the approval of the Visitor, the President of India, to extend the tenure of chairpersons of IIT BHU (Varanasi), IIT Dhanbad, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Palakkad and IIT Jammu. The chairpersons of these institutions had completed their terms.

The ministry also gave additional charge of chairpersons of IIT Goa, IIT Roorkee and IIT Patna to the incumbent chairpersons of IIT Ropar, IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur, respectively. The government was supposed to appoint regular chairpersons in these IITs. The ad hoc arrangement in these nine IITs will continue till the last week of May 2026.

There has also been a delay in finalising the minutes of key meetings. On August 25, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan chaired a meeting of the IIT Council comprising the chairpersons and directors of all 23 IITs. Till December 26, the minutes have not been finalised. It is unclear what decisions have been taken.

Policy organisations, too, are headless. The ministry this week gave the additional charge of chairperson of the technical education regulator, the All India Council of Technical Education, to Yogesh Singh, the vice-chancellor of Delhi University.

Similarly, the University Grants Commission is headed by Vineet Joshi, the higher education secretary, since Jagadesh Kumar completed his tenure in April. The Indian Council of Social Science Research is headed by an in-charge chairperson.

The ministry has been sitting on the appointments of directors of IIM Bangalore and IIM Shillong for over six months. In-charge directors are managing them.

Two ministry officials said the delay occurs mostly at the top. "The sections concerned process the files and submit them to the minister’s office. It gets stuck there for months. To run the institutions, an ad hoc arrangement is the option till regular appointments are approved," said an official.