Governor house set to search VCs as 3 univs slip under ad hoc arrangement

A senior official of the Lok Bhawan said that the search committee would have a nominee from the University Grants Commission (UGC) in keeping with the UGC provisions and Supreme Court order on the appointment of VCs

With three state universities in Bihar again slipping under ad hoc arrangement following the end of the term of regular vice chancellors, the process of fresh appointments is set to begin.

Lok Bhavan, Bihar

A senior official of the Lok Bhawan said that the search committee would have a nominee from the University Grants Commission (UGC) in keeping with the UGC provisions and Supreme Court order on the appointment of VCs.

“The vacancies have been advertised and search committees for each of three universities formed. The meeting of the search committees will take place at the earliest,” he added.

Both the Patna University (Amendment) Act, 2013, and the Bihar State Universities Act, 2013 prescribe a three-member search committee comprising an eminent scholar/academician nominated by the Chancellor as chairman, the director or head of a national-level institute, or a VC of a statutory university nominated by the Chancellor; and an eminent academician nominated by the state govt.

“These Acts do not provide for any UGC nominee, though during the tenure of former Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar a UGC nominee was included in the search committee and it will be continued,” said the official.

The Supreme Court in January 2026 (CWJC 4147/2023 and Appeal No 54-55 /2025 under Article 136) ruled that the UGC Regulations-2018 on constitution of search-cum-selection committee for appointing VCs “overrides” any state law made in this regard as it mandates that the panel for recommending names for appointing VCs should include a nominee of the Chairman of the UGC.

“Any decision inconsistent with UGC Regulations for appointing VC shall be legally untenable,” said Futab Working President Kanhaiya Bahadur Sinha and General Secretary, Sanjay Kumar Singh, MLC.

Detailing the background of the case, they said that the appointment of VC of Pudducherry Technical University was challenged in Madras High Court on the ground that the search committee, on the recommendation of which VC was appointed, did not have a UGC nominee as member as required under UGC regulation 2018.

In August, 2024 also, Raj Bhawan had handed over additional charge of three state universities till the appointment of regular VCs. The appointments four VCs was completed in January 2025 only barely few days after Arif Mohammad Khan was sworn in as Bihar Governor on January 2.

The same happened in Pataliputra University, where the VC was appointed in July 2025 after remaining under ad hoc charge since January even though the chancellor’s secretariat had invited applications for the post of VC in June 2024 itself. Patna University is also under an officiating VC as the incumbent VC is facing charges and the Chancellor has stopped him from functioning till the completion of the probe.

However, this will be the first time during the tenure of Khan that the entire process for appointment of VCs will be carried out. The process for previous appointments during his tenure were started during the term of his predecessor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.

While in Magadh University (Bodh Gaya) and Veer Kunwar Singh University (Ara), the regular VCs have been given extension beyond their term with restricted powers till the regular appointments, the additional charge of TM Bhagalpur University has been given to BN Mandal University (Madhepura).

Most of the state universities have also been without Pro-Vice Chancellors for years, though it was regularly done till a few years ago. There is no word so far if the large-scale vacancies of Pro-VCs will also be filled in near future.