Mumbai: In what could be a first case in the history of Mumbai University, Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao on Tuesday sacked Sanjay Deshmukh as the varsity’s Vice Chancellor. Stakeholders however said the move is very little and came very late.
"The Governor and Chancellor of University of Mumbai CH Vidyasagar Rao, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Section 11(14)(e) of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016 removed Dr Sanjay Deshmukh from the office of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Mumbai..
"... for his gross negligence and failure in implementing the On-Screen Marking system, to declare the results of examinations held in Summer-2017 within the time limit prescribed in the Act and for his failure to comply with the directions issued by the Chancellor from time to time, regarding early declaration of results", Raj Bhavan said in a press statement released on Tuesday.
Deshmukh is probably the first Vice Chancellor in the history of Mumbai University to have been dismissed from his post.
Deshmukh's hasty decision to implement online assessment despite opposition from stakeholders and the government and the university's lack of preparedness to handle the massive project, were seen as the prime reasons for the chaos that ensued in the last five months.
The careers of lakhs of students were put at risk owing to the four-month delay in the declaration of Mumbai University's results and thousands lost their opportunities to pursue higher education in India and abroad. Many are still awaiting their results, almost six months after taking their exams.
The removal of Deshmukh has put to rest the impending demands of the vice-chancellor's resignation from different quarters following the uncertainty that thousands of students had to face due to the extremely delayed announcement of results this year.
However teachers' union and college authorities said the decision to remove Deshmukh from his post is a step too little taken too late.
“The entire fiasco of online assessment of answer sheets which resulted in causing irreparable damage to the job opportunities and higher studies of lakhs of students could have been prevented had the chancellor's office taken timely cognisance of the series of complaints lodged by teachers", the Bombay University and College Teachers' Union (BUCTU) said in a statement.
"The present mess is a natural consequence of the rot that has set in more than a year back and will adversely impact the academic governance of the university for a long time to come", the teachers body said.
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