The wait for a vice-chancellor at Visva-Bharati will continue even as the Union government on Thursday appointed VCs at four central universities.

In April 2024, a panel had interviewed candidates for the VC's post at Visva-Bharati. However, interviews were held later for two VCs whose appointments were announced on Thursday.

Visva-Bharati, whose chancellor is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has had no regular VC since November 2023 after Bidyut Chakrabarty's five-year tenure.

With the approval of the visitor, the President of India, the Ministry of Education (MoE) on Thursday appointed Kumud Sharma, professor of Hindi at Delhi University, as VC of Mahatma Gandhi Antararashtriya Hindi Vishvavidyalaya (MGAHV), Wardha; Phanithi Prakash Babu, professor of bio-technology at University of Hyderabad, as VC of Pondicherry University; Raj Kumar Mittal, professor at Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, as VC of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow; and Nagalapalli Naga Raju, currently VC of Gangadhar Meher University, Odisha, as VC of English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad.

The MoE appoints VCs at central varsities by publishing advertisements, setting up search-cum-selection panels and issuing appointment letters with the approval of the visitor.

According to the information accessed by The Telegraph through the RTI Act, the MoE issued the advertisement for the Visva-Bharati VC on December 13, 2023. A search-cum-selection committee was set up on February 23, 2024. Prof Kumud Sharma, who was appointed as the VC of MGAHV on Thursday, was a member of the three-member panel.

The panel interacted with candidates on April 23 and 24, 2024. The committee gave the list of selected persons on June 28, 2024, to the office of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The interaction by the committees with candidates for the posts of VCs in MGAHV and Pondicherry University took place in June 2024, two months after interactions had happened for the VC of Visva-Bharati.

“It is intriguing that the government has kept the appointment of VC in Visva-Bharati hanging while it appointed VCs in institutions for which interviews were held later. Interestingly, Prof Kumud Sharma who interacted in April 2024 with candidates for VC post at Visva-Bharati became a candidate and appeared for an interview in June 2024 and today got appointed as VC in MGAHV,” said a Visva-Bharati faculty member.

An MoE official said the Visva-Bharati VC file was being processed.