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A Vice-Chancellor Resigns Twice The System Stymies Change
By: R.S. Mooshahary

The second resignation by the Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University in a span of eight months is emblematic of systemic malady in our public administration. Dr Amarjyoti Choudhury had no illusion that the system would change when he withdrew his first resignation, but friends and well-wishers prevailed upon him to change his decision and continue with his 'vision document,' which the chief minister derisively termed as nothing more than the proposal to acquire a few sofa sets. It was obvious that he would exit in frustration because there was no way he could change things.

Resignation is a form of protest and not many people opt for this choice particularly when one is holding the position of importance and status. People normally cling to their positions come what may but there are some honorable exceptions. In contemporary politics, I can only cite one person who uses the weapon of resignation to protect his image - Mr. A K Antony, the incumbent defence minister of India. He resigns at the drop of a hat - so far twice as the chief minister of Kerala and once as the union minister - to uphold his prestige and public image as a politician of highest integrity. I have worked with him in Kerala and can vouch for his honesty, simplicity and devotion to public cause.

Resignation howsoever glorified is quite a passive action. Actually, nothing good comes out it. It is accepting defeat when one must act to succeed. It is a different thing if one is forced to resign because of certain inappropriate circumstances in which case there is no option but to quit, but if one resigns just to protest, it becomes escapism. Yet the VC was so utterly frustrated that he resigned because he saw no point in fighting against the system that stifles initiative and thrives on stereotype. Being a respectable teacher, he was not given to making any false claim of achievement by inventing statistical jugglery that the politicians and the bureaucrats are so adept in.

Like him, we all feel saddened to see the first university in the northeast slipping in to a deeper crisis of mismanagement and decaying values. Universities in this country rarely pursue academic excellence these days; they are preoccupied with advancement of personal agenda and group politics. The students of GU have surpassed others in politicizing education than pursuing knowledge since late seventies. When the students start deciding on what they will learn, the learning becomes an optional subject and the teachers lose interest in teaching. This is symptomatic of the youth degeneration with deleterious affect on the wellbeing of the society.

To redeem GU, the symbol of higher education in the NE region, is an essential aspect of moral regeneration of our people and we must strengthen the dynamics of its efficient functioning. In the present setup, it is well nigh impossible because of some structural disadvantages. A university can become a seat of learning only when there is a congenial academic environment, which is a function of sound administration. In order to strengthen the administrative set up some universities, Delhi University is one such, have inducted administrator as VC or Registrar. Where VC is an academician the Registrar should be a man of strong administrative caliber or vice versa. Of course, the VC should have the freedom to select the Registrar within this framework to ensure teamwork. This is one way of infusing fresh dynamism in administering the university, which GU can experiment.

Government has the responsibility to facilitate education and no university can function without government support but it must resist the temptation of treating the university as one of its departments and not create a crisis situation - the financial crisis primarily - to bring it to submission. The functional autonomy of an institution can easily be curtailed and its efficiency curbed by putting financial barriers and it happens not infrequently. The crux of the problem GU is facing is financial, the rest of its problems are incidental or corollary to it. The VC resigned earlier and got rupees twenty-five crores as sop for withdrawing the resignation. This time round it may not be worth anything as the resignation has been accepted.

Surely, the government does not expect the VC to resign every time it wants to give it a dole. This is the worst thing the government can inflict on any institution, which it is duty bound to facilitate to function efficiently. The government must give all the support to the university without the VC having to run around in circle to get it. The indignity in having to flatter the government functionaries to get what is its due would have been even worse than the non-allocation of fund and an honorable man cannot accept it. So the only way out for him was to quit rather than put up with the miserable mess.

It is futile to expect GU to become self-sufficient financially because its business is not making money. In a state where government organizations established to make profit through business dealings in core areas like electivity, transport, construction etc have failed to become financially viable, it is a total absurdity to expect the university to generate income to meet its expenditure. The common suggestion is to increase the student fees to augment university income, but no amount raised through such a measure will be enough to meet the need, which is ever growing.

How the private managements are running educational institutions profitably is a lesson that cannot be replicated in the state managed institutions because of obvious reasons. Suggestions for corporatizing the GU and raising money by means public issue of its shares and listing them in the stock market have also been made, but in a fiercely competitive corporate business situation it has no chance to survive.

We need to change first to change things. The revenue and expenditure concept in public administration is outmoded and requires drastic redefining. After all, it is for public purpose that taxes are collected and the procedures must enhance revenue accrual and optimize resources deployment. Procedures and rules must be such as to help people to function effectively and not to put hurdles in achieving result. We need to experiment various alternatives in charting the growth trajectory.

Normal method has not helped in solving the problem; it has only aggravated it because there is madness in the method. It requires radical measures to correct deep maladies. Why not experiment associating the university with the process of revenue collection? The interstate check gates at Srirampur and Chagalia have become hotbeds of corruption and mismanagement. Let the university join in toll collection there for a month on an experimental basis and the amount collected in that period be given as government grant to supplement university income.

It will serve many crucial purposes. The volume of tax that can be collected at these check gates can be assessed accurately, the university can innovate tools and techniques for better check gate management, it will help check corruption and enhance tax realization, and these check gates would become the most people-friendly interstate barriers that will do the state proud.

Finance people will outright reject this suggestion because they cannot see beyond their procedural nose. They are like medieval rulers unwilling to accept nonconformist suggestions and hostile to out of the box thinking. To remain enslaved to the worn-out set of rules is a comfort zone of bureaucracy; it enables them to exercise power without accountability. They have to wake up to the new world of innovativeness and introduce method in the madness.

The writer, a former Director General of Police in Kerala and Director General of the National Security Guard and the Border Security Force, is currently the State Chief Information Commissioner, Assam)