More than 100 NLU Delhi students have sent a letter to NLU Delhi’s chancellor - Delhi high court chief justice Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel - and its visitor - Supreme Court Justice NV Ramana - to accelerate the hunt for a new vice chancellor (VC), which has now taken more than nine months without any obvious idea of the outcome.
The open letter, which was also signed by five NLU Delhi alumni, implores the judges to “intervene” and call to convene the university’s governing council to expedite the process.
The letter stated that “matters have proceeded at a sluggish pace with no transparency” and that “despite multiple attempts by the student body to engage with the selection committee, they have been kept in the dark about the entire process”.
There is no timeline about when a new VC would be appointed, and incumbent and founding VC, Prof Ranbir Singh, is on a temporary one-year extension until 23 September 2020, which is fast approaching.
On top of that, the “avoidable delay” came at a “crucial stage” in NLU Delhi’s history, with decisions needing to be made about how to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, which might benefit from having a VC actually see them through and implemented.
According to the students, those decisions include how to graduate the current final batch into the pandemic, any potential fee waivers due to the NLU being in distance education mode, rather than in Delhi), and the upcoming All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) exam, which will be held via online proctoring .
One fourth year student who is a signatory to the letter, Aadarsh Singh, has also filed a Right to Information (RTI) request with the university today, requesting the names of what are believed to be three candidates who have been shortlisted for the VC position (see full text of RTI below).
The RTI asked for:
Please provide the following information under the Right to Information Act 2005 with respect to the Selection Committee constituted in the year 2019 to search for the next Vice-Chancellor of National Law University Delhi:
1. The Selection Committee issued an advertisement dated 11.10.19 to invite applications for the post of Vice-Chancellor. As per records, please provide the name of candidates who applied for the post of Vice-Chancellor in the period 11.10.19 to 11.11.19.
2. As per records, please provide the name of candidates who have been shortlisted by the Selection Committee for the position of Vice-Chancellor of National Law University Delhi.
3. As per records, please provide the minutes of all the meetings of the Selection Committee.
The NLU Delhi VC process has also attracted a writ petition by NLU Delhi English professor Prof (Dr) Prasannanshu, who also alleged that the process has been shrouded in opacity so far.
Full NLU Delhi students' letter to VC
We, the undersigned, write to your kind self in your capacity as the Chancellor of the University. We wish to bring your attention to the pending issue of the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor of the University. As your kind self might be aware, a Selection Committee was constituted way back in September 2019 to look for the next Vice-Chancellor of the University. Applications were invited for the position of Vice-Chancellor through a notification dated 11.10.2019. As per the notification, the deadline for applying for the position of Vice-Chancellor was set as 11.11.2019.
Since the above-mentioned notification, the matters have proceeded at a sluggish pace with no transparency. Despite multiple attempts by the student body to engage with the Selection Committee, they have been kept in the dark about the entire process. Despite the passage of over 9 months since its constitution, there is still no timeline regarding the appointment of the next Vice-Chancellor. The snail-paced process attains all the more importance in light of the fact that as per notification dated 20.07.2018 [attached], the tenure of the present Vice-Chancellor would end on 23rd September 2020.
This avoidable delay in the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor comes at a crucial stage as the institution is faced with multiple decisions involving the interests of the students. Besides formulating the new academic calendar in light of the pandemic, the institution is also faced with key decisions pertaining to the award of course degrees to the graduating Batch of 2020, fee waivers (owing to distance education), smooth conduct of All India Law Entrance Examination (AILET), etc. The administrative delay in the Vice-Chancellor’s appointment is likely to adversely affect the above-mentioned issues.
In light of this, we, the undersigned, humbly request you to intervene in this matter and call for a meeting of the Governing Council so that the process of appointment of the Vice-Chancellor can be expedited.
threads most popular
thread most upvoted
comment newest
first oldest
first
They are lawyers in the true sense. They fight for social causes and stand for rights. Pursuing activism as both a way of life and an occupation, is something that must be encouraged. All law students should themselves shun away corporate jobs. And not be bothered with anything that comes in the way of their activism.
They fought for rights of labourers at their University and now for their University. Everyone should be proud of them.
[...]
Student recruitment did not fail in NALSAR when they lobbied for a student body; NUJS did not recently see a fall in recruitment numbers either. NLS kept doing well in the late 90's, early 00's despite massive internal overhauls that took place at that time. It appears, therefore, that employers simply don't care about these internal things; they care about performance and potential ability.
And, frankly, if there are employers who think this is meaningless (or even negative) "rabble-rousing", then perhaps it's high time we start taking a dim view of such employers.
People don't come to law school to get grades and get a job. Get your facts right please.
i. do they go to any university for?
ii. is to suggest that they have even studied there because no grade means no result/ certificate?
"and get a job." - Okay but are you sure about it? If true, then why the fuss about:
i. placement and related rankings?
ii. percentage of alumni concentrations in firms?
iii. which law school has maximum tier I job?
iv. 'who cares' or 'what is xyz law firm' when any firm other than the regular ones reported?
v. getting corporate internships?
May be I am not as aware as you are and may be my facts are also 'WRONG' but do think through these.
About the student activism: it is great that students take part in political matters and it is good that they take part in administrative matters as well BUT what is really concerning is the fact that most of these students when come out to practice law; they:
i. do not perform that well in the legal subjects which, to my mind, they should have focused on primarily along with these activism(s);
ii. forget about all the activism and when asked to take part, they find excuses not to; and
iii. how many of them really care?
However, a couple of other things based on this letter:
I. The GC Meeting
i. The EC meeting is scheduled for the 11 of August and GC will follow soon after.
ii. The delay was because the terms of the GC and EC members were ending and there were a couple of vacancies (including that of Mr. Arun Jaitley). Once the Chancellor nominated the new members, the authorities immediately reached out to the Visitor and Chancellor requesting for dates. This has all be done earlier this month itself and students who have botered to ask have been told this.
(not everything needs to done with public letters. A simple act of picking up a phone and calling and asking should be enough). While its a trend to write open letters in NLUD these days (no doubt that some of those are needed), it may have been more useful to ascertain facts and no just unnecessary shoot another letter. I say unnecessary because whatever the letter asks has already been done.
[Just because:
Also, some of the things said in letter seem incorrect and false:
The academic calendar has already been published,
The GC apporves the degrees of the students who are graduating (which is scheduled for the 11th) and does not really need a VC. Needs an examindation department.
AILET has already been scheduled for August end. I am assuming if everything goes as per plan (and not more disruption because of Covid) results should be out before RS goes.
The only decision left is fee waiver (which ideally needs the GC/EC approval and not really VC's) and given the Delhi government reducing money for NLU Delhi this does seem unlikely]
II. RTI
i. Is University the relevant public authority in this case? I am not so sure - unless the Registrar's office is the secretariat for the committee.
ii. Not going into all the (ill-thought-out) questions in the RTI, but curious about this:
"As per records, please provide the name of candidates who have been shortlisted by the Selection Committee for the position of Vice-Chancellor of National Law University Delhi."
Erm - there is a process to be followed. Technically no one knows what are those three names which were finalised. It is only in the GC meeting that the Visitor will open those names and a discussion will take place on who to select among those three. (Maybe even a cursory reading of the NLU Delhi Act and the procedure written under it would have been useful before drafting the RTI).
III. This is more for Kian:
Just curious about the headline: "NLU Delhi students send RTI, letter to chancellor against opaque 'snail-paced' VC appointment to succeed Ranbir Singh"
Like really Kian? NLU Delhi students? NLU Delhi currently has at least ~515 students (not sure of the exact number of Ph.D. students). 116 students have signed this letter. That is 22.5 percent.
This number is a lot less compared to a lot of other letters, partly because of the issues I raised with the ill-conceived letter.
I understand this is more clickbaity headline - but is technically misleading (I know you'll say that there is nothing wrong/ false in the headline).
Also, as an aside here's a better story.
ketto.org/.../...
Anyway, hopefully, NLUD gets its new VC soon, but just wanted to question some of these things and clarify some.
I fully endorse this. The lack of information and facts on the part of the sudents has resulted into an unnecessary communication. Kian, I am surprised that you have agreed to downgrade LI so low. This issue is imporatnt but it does not merit the way you have potrayed. Please verify and subject such sumission to strict scrutiny.
The delay caused in the meetings of the GC and EC is due to the laxity of the administration. Arun Jaitley passed away 1 year back! It took them a year to fill the vacancy. Also, the tenure of other members did not end out of the blue. They could have very well ensured that no delay is caused due to vacancies. Thanks for informing about the next EC meeting. The students are not informed about the same. Far from that, the students do not even know the members who are part of the EC. The college’s website still displays an outdated list both for the GC as well as EC.
Also, since you seem to have a profound belief in the transparent state of affairs at the University (“a simple act of picking up a phone and calling and asking should be enough”), please share the contact details of the people who are kind enough to reveal all such information. For a start, they can update the website of the University with the names of members who are currently part of the EC/GC.
Your assertions regarding the falsity of the letter are laughable to say the least. “The GC approves the degrees of the students who are graduating (which is scheduled for the 11th) and does not really need a VC”. The VC is part of the GC! He is supposed to present the affairs of the University in front of the GC. The examination department has no separate representation in the GC.
“The academic calendar has already been published”. Where? The website of the college still displays the calendar for the current semester (that too with wrong dates). Has the University decided how they are going to proceed with classes in the next semester? How are students with no proper internet access going to attend classes? No such decisions have been taken.
As for University’s policy on AILET, it is better to let things speak for themselves!
The students have more than legitimate reasons to ask for the people who have applied for the position of VC. The Selection Committee has been constituted under the NLUD Delhi Act only. The Act does not prohibit the Committee from revealing the names.
Since you profess to know a lot of things about the inside affairs of the University, you must be aware that the 5th years have practically passed out as their final exams were conducted a few weeks back. For the rest of the students, the exams are going on since 20th. Excluding the LLM students (who hardly take interest in long term issues of the University) and the 5th years, there are currently around 320-330 students in the University and out of that more than 35% have signed the letter. The ongoing exams explain why more participation was not there.
Instead of deviating from the issue, you might want to question why the students and faculty have not been informed about the people in race to be the next VC? Why the Committee took almost a year to decide the next VC?
No doubt, NLUD has made impressive progress in its first decade but if the administrative laxity and secrecy are a sign of things to come then it would not take time to lose the prestige it has attained in such a short span.
Apart from the open letter sent in November expressing the wishlist (www.legallyindia.com/lawschools/nlu-delhi-students-publish-wishlist-for-new-vc-should-tick-usual-boxes-foster-trust-with-student-body-20191122-11018) [which incidentaly was initiated by the fifth years] what other efforts have been made? Can you please list those? And if there have been why were they not shared with the wider student body? Are certain students reaching out on behalf of all the student body and if so in what capacity?
In terms of the committee, as you say the committee was formed in September (last week) and the selection committee completed its process before the end of February. That is 4 months (which I would think is fairly quick).
"The delay caused in the meetings of the GC and EC is due to the laxity of the administration."
Again, maybe read the NLUD Act (here nludelhi.ac.in/download/act/mobile/index.html)
The GC as you will know happens in end of March/ April and had to be delayed because of the pandemic (unless you think that's trivial issue and the administartion was lax in letting Corona happen).
As far as the terms of members is concerned, it is not upto the administration to fill those it is upto the Chancellor who is informed as soon as a vacancy occurs. Now unless you are suggesting that a University can force a sitting HC judge to nominate people not much to be done here. As for the other members their term was ending on 30th June and on 30th June the Chancellor nominated new members (not sure where's the delay).
Also you realise that the University is closed right? and not just on its own but mandated by the government. They seem to be working with mininal staff. But again how can Covid stop a small law university. Anyway here are the new members since you did not find them (yes I know you said website.) www.barandbench.com/news/tushar-mehta-and-vivek-reddy-among-those-nominated-to-the-nlu-delhi-governing-council
"Your assertions regarding the falsity of the letter are laughable to say the least. “The GC approves the degrees of the students who are graduating (which is scheduled for the 11th) and does not really need a VC”. The VC is part of the GC! He is supposed to present the affairs of the University in front of the GC. The examination department has no separate representation in the GC."
Firstly, my bad that should have been EC. You realise if there is a interim VC or if the Registrar puts it they still agree to sign the degrees. They won't say that because you do not have a permanent VC we won't award degrees. In terms of academic calendar and what is the way forward may ask your acad reps. I totally agree that going online is not a great decision due to the issues you pointed out. But what's the alternative given that the pandemic is still very much around and with a lot of transport not working.
"The students have more than legitimate reasons to ask for the people who have applied for the position of VC. The Selection Committee has been constituted under the NLUD Delhi Act only. The Act does not prohibit the Committee from revealing the names."
Never said they don't. I said you cannot ask for name of the three people shortlisted (that procedure is also in the same act that you rely on).
You circulated the letter at least two days before the exam and it was discussed in smaller WA groups a few days before. Why pretend that it was an open and inclusive process. Also are you saying even during the exams the students were so busy to take out 5 minutes and read and sign a letter? If you don't care about LLM or like they don't care about University issues (why were they, the PhD students, faculty and research staff marked on that letter)? You also reached out and circulated it to the alumni (who again mostly seem to think it was a weird idea). Also, as you say one of the reasons to get a new VC is awarding of degrees, I am sure the fifth years are even more concerned than you are because they want their degrees.
RS also almost two months left in his tenure. Hopefully the AILET can happen before that (not the best idea anyway to have a new person coming in and been thrown in the middle of it, when she'll have no idea of the process till now). The University has reached out to the Visitor and Chancellor the first opportunity it got. We will have a new VC if not by the end of August before end of September.
As I started in the previous comment I think its a legitimate thing and much needed to have the student involvement in this process (what this involvement looks like is I guess now a question for next time). However, we seemed to have missed that time to actively and constructively do that. Again, I am sorry if I seem to be diluting the issues that was never the concern, its just that I think that steps should be taken but they should also be thoughful and discussed widely internally between students and how to go about it. (Still don't get the point of marking the entire student body and individual faculty, etc on cc in the final emails sent out. Also, some editing and formatting for both the letter and email would have been appreciated).
Based on what has been discussed on LI comments and other places before seems like some 11-12 people were invited for interviews and three have been shorlisted. Two names seem to be SKD Rao and Jaiswal. No one seems to know who is the third one but let's hope whovever comes as the new VC takes the institution forward (specially with next couple of years looking super bleak for funding and recruitment).
However, since we have missed this opportunity, it may be a goos idea to start discussing internally if there is way for us to be involved in the Registrar's appointment or at least present out views.
Could someone please tell me whether recruitments of NLUs also focus on NGOs. I am interested in working for women rights and domestic violence issues.
Can you atleast tell me which ones are considered top NLUs for social work related career goals. Which NLU has a curriculum and atmosphere that is left leaning and students focus on social matters.
NLS might be better tbh- Sudhir has founded and run CLPR for so long, done a lot of work in the policy area, Mrinal and Aparna have also been doing really cool work. Kunal is quite the activist as well. And there are just as many law schools graduates in the ngo space as there are from Nalsar.
Chauhan hasn’t had time to focus on research. Faizans policy stuff is - he’s a TV pundit- but no one can argue that it’s [...]. [...]
Compare that with law school - and it’s a world of difference. Sudhir by himself has done a lot more work in this field than Nalsar faculty put together. At least more recently. With M and A coming in - that’s a really strong space for ngo/ research/ policy work. Nalsar can’t boast of the same thing.
I’ve dealt with both law school students and Nalsar students - and I’m not from nls. But the nls folk I’ve dealt with have on average been better at least at knowing what they don’t know, and having a more structured way of understanding and solving problems.
Current lot of students should take inspiration from such alumni. Do not fear any one who tries to put you down in the name of corporate jobs. You guys deserve so much more than corporate jobs. Keep up the good work.
threads most popular
thread most upvoted
comment newest
first oldest
first