The University Grants Commission (UGC), tasked with upholding educational standards in 1,100 universities and 50,000 colleges across India, has been operating without a chairman, regular or acting, for the past three days.

Professor M. Jagadesh Kumar ended his tenure as UGC chief on April 7.

According to the UGC Act, the vice-chairman or a member of the UGC would discharge the chairman’s responsibility in case of a vacancy in the chairman’s office. Professor Deepak Kumar Srivastava is currently the vice-chairman. However, he has not taken over as chairman since the ministry of education (MoE) has not issued any order.

The ministry has not started the process of appointing a regular chairman even though it knew the post would fall vacant in April 2025.

A former member of the UGC said that inaction by the ministry showed neglect towards the education sector.

“The UGC gets complaints about universities and colleges troubling students. There are various other complaints about unfair means and violation of norms. The UGC chairman signs hundreds of files every day, many of which are urgent. Now all these files will be piling up as nobody is discharging the responsibility,” the former member said.

He said no vice-chancellor or member of the academic community had protested the government’s apathy.

“Several hundred VCs are members of a WhatsApp group. Everyone is silent on the issue. This attitude emboldens the government,” he said.

A source in the education ministry said the government might give additional charge of UGC chairman to higher education secretary Vineet Joshi.

An academic said the government had in December 2021 made then higher education secretary Sanjay Murthy the acting chairman of the UGC for a brief period after the retirement of Prof. D.P. Singh. At that time, the vice-chairman’s post was vacant too.

“The UGC is supposed to be an autonomous expert body on higher education. It has a crucial role in independently assessing the need of institutions and framing policies accordingly. This government deviated from the practice and made the higher education secretary the acting chairman of the UGC. If it repeats this, it would mean the UGC is an extension counter of the Centre,” he said.

Former UGC secretary R.K. Chauhan said that according to the Act, the vice-chairman automatically becomes acting chairman.

“There have been instances when the vice-chairman automatically performs the role of the chairman. That should apply here too,” Chauhan said.

About the delay in the appointment of a regular chairman, Chauhan said all governments were lethargic on the issue of heads of institutions.

“The government, whichever party is in power, does not take action according to the need of the time,” he said.

The National Education Policy has recommended the setting up of a higher education commission in place of the UGC. Chauhan said the appointment of a chairman at the earliest would help in the smooth transition of the UGC to a new institution as proposed by the NEP.

An email has been sent to the education ministry to understand its perspective on the UGC running without a head. Its response is awaited.