FRONTLINE 02-06-2015 Mumbai Maharashtra : Picture for Frontline to go with R K Radhakrishnan’s story. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai. Pic by SHASHI ASHIWAL
| Photo Credit: SHASHI ASHIWAL

After a delay of more than a year, a permanent Vice-Chancellor is set to be appointed in Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) with the selection committee slated to conduct in-person interviews with 10 shortlisted candidates on Sunday, in a confidential process.

According to official sources, the interviews are scheduled to take place at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-Mumbai) campus. The selection panel consists of top officials from Delhi University, IIM-Kolkata and one executive council member from TISS.

Also read: The lack of leadership at TISS | Explained

Of the 127 persons who had applied for the coveted post, 10 candidates have been shortlisted, of which five are TISS teaching staff. Official sources said that the potential candidates who are vying for the VC post have been shortlisted from the Schools of Health Systems, Development Studies, Management and Labour Studies, Law and Governance and Habitat Studies.

The other five shortlisted candidates belong to Central universities, including University of Mumbai and University of Allahabad.

“After the interviews are conducted, three candidates are slated for further shortlisting and the three names will then be relayed to Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education may take another few days to issue an official order of selection,” the source said.

After Shalini Bharat, the previous VC of TISS, retired in 2023, the position has remained unfilled. Manoj Tiwari, who is also the VC of IIM-Mumbai, is currently filling in as the acting VC.

“Because the acting VC holds a full-time position in IIM Mumbai, the institute is majorly headed by Pro VC Shankar Das,” a senior professor from TISS said, citing anonymity.

TISS has been in controversy through the year as students and faculty have alleged that the style of administration has become more centralised. “Administrative delays including that of delay in convocation, students unable to submit their degrees in time to their employers have plagued the institute over the year,” the professor added.

Earlier in June, TISS had issued termination notices to nearly 100 staff members including teaching staff, citing lack of fund sanctions, before Tata Trusts ensured that provisions were being made to extend their contracts. “Tata Trusts have extended contracts for the 100 positions only till December this year and the future of these 100 staffers is uncertain as of date,” the professor said.

Mumbai:

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has suspended a PhD student for two years for indulging in activities that are “not in the interest of the nation” and referred to instances like him participating in a protest in Delhi under the PSF-TISS banner.

Ramadas Prinisivanandan (30), who is pursuing his doctorate in Development Studies, has also been debarred from entering the TISS campuses in Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad and Guwahati.

In a notice sent to Prinisivanandan dated March 7, TISS referred to instances like the screening of documentaries like ‘Ram Ke Naam’ ahead of January 26 as a “mark of dishonour and protest” against the Ram Mandir consecration in Ayodhya.

He has also been accused of screening a banned BBC documentary on the TISS campus last January and also organising the Bhagat Singh Memorial Lecture (BSML) by inviting “controversial guest speakers”.

It said that these issues are “very serious and it is discernible that you are intentionally and deliberately indulging in such unlawful activities in the name of freedom of speech and expression.”

“Your activities are not in the interest of the nation. Being a public institution, TISS cannot permit or tolerate its students indulging in such activities which are anti-national and bring a bad name to the nation. Hence all such activities fall under the category of serious criminal offence.

“The committee recommended your suspension from the institute i.e. Tata Institute of Social Sciences for the period of two years and your entry shall be debarred across all campuses of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which is accepted by the competent authority,” the TISS notice dated April 18 reads.

Prinisivanandan, who hails from Kerala, said he will appeal against the suspension.

The Progressive Student Forum, a Left-leaning student body Prinisivanandan is associated with, said the march referred to by the TISS was related to “anti-student policies in the form of the National Education Policy”.

It also said BSML has had the distinction of inviting well-known academics, scholars and human rights activists, including two Ramon Magsaysay awardees.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)