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:

Students of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) have alleged police action when they staged a protest during a convocation ceremony on its campus here against the suspension of PhD scholar Ramadas Prini Sivanandan.

The students staged the protest on Friday also in solidarity with 119 teachers and staff “who may lose their jobs by December 31 or have already lost,” said a statement signed by Sara Bardhan, silver medallist, MA in Urban Policy and Governance, Sreyas Valsan, MA in Urban Policy and Governance, and others.

They alleged that even though the protest was carried out peacefully without disrupting any other proceedings, the administration repeatedly discouraged students from exercising their right to free speech and many police personnel were called to the venue of the convocation ceremony.

“We chose to raise banners in solidarity with Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, a Dalit PhD scholar and a student activist who is denied access to education for the last 156 days due to the arbitrary suspension, and 119 teachers and staff who may lose their jobs by December 31 or have already lost,” the students said.

When Arghya Das, a graduating student of MA in Women’s Studies, was registering his protest by raising a placard seeking revocation of Sivanandan’s suspension and job security for teachers and staff, he was forcibly taken off the stage by guards and police, they claimed.

The police kept Das in custody away from the Convocation Hall till the ceremony ended and all degree certificates were taken away, the students alleged.

In April, the TISS suspended Sivanandan for two years for allegedly indulging in activities which are “not in the interest of the nation” and referred to instances like his participating in a protest in Delhi under the PSF-TISS banner.

A Mumbai police official said there was some issue over the suspension of Sivanandan inside the TISS campus and an internal enquiry has been ordered by the institute.

An inquiry will be conducted on Monday, he said, adding that the police have not received any formal complaint.

Police are keeping a vigil on the developments inside the campus, the official added. 

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

Mumbai:

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Wednesday said it has asked PhD scholars from 2017, 2018 and 2019 batches to vacate their hostel rooms for staying beyond the allotted five-year period.

These students collectively owe lakhs of rupees in unpaid semester fees as well as hostel and dining hall dues, the premier institute said in a statement.

The statement came in response to a media report that some students had been asked to vacate the hostels.

A student said 11 people were issued notices.

“All the “students” who have been sent the notices are PhD scholars. The scholars have not been sent an “eviction” notice but have been asked to vacate the hostels as they have been overstaying beyond the allotted five years as per the date of their registration,” it said.

A professor at the institute said on the condition of anonymity that there was a feeling among the students that those affiliated to the Progressive Students Forum, a left-leaning association, were being targeted.

As per the institute, PhD scholars from the 2017, 2018 and 2019 batches had been served notices to vacate the hostel in the past too.

“The 2017 batch has been served six notices, the 2018 batch three notices, and the 2019 batch two notices,” the TISS statement said.

The institute has always supported all its students and research scholars, and “we care extra about each one’s academic and personal needs,” it said.

“However, by overstaying in the hostels, these PhD scholars have deprived many deserving new scholars,” the statement added.

The institute is already saddled with financial liabilities of Rs 18.14 crore due to unpaid fees, including Rs 2.28 crore owed by 809 PhD scholars from 2007 till July 2024, it said.

While many students and scholars have successfully completed their academic programmes, got their degrees and are gainfully employed, they have abdicated their moral responsibility of repaying their outstanding dues to the institute, the statement added. 

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

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.)