Edu panel ‘experts’ appointed by BJP govt to be sacked

In a review meeting held on Thursday, the state government has decided to remove all non-government officials appointed as expert members on various committees under

In a review meeting held on Thursday, the state government has decided to remove all non-government officials appointed as expert members on various committees under the higher and technical education department. The meeting was held by higher and technical education minister Uday Samant. The department has over 20 committees where such members are appointed. All appointments were made during the previous regime of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Devendra Fadnavis.

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“We have decided to remove all non-government officials from the committees and boards that come under the higher and technical education department. All those who were appointed by the previous regime will be removed,” Samant said.

Saurabh Vijay, secretary, higher and technical education department, said they have received directives, and the procedure to identify all such appointments has been started.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Ashish Deshmukh demanded the removal of vice chancellors (VC) of the universities claiming that they are Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) inclined.

Blaming Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU) VC for the attacks at the university, Deshmukh said “One can imagine what may have happened if such a person was heading any of our universities. All the VCs, pro-VCs and registrars appointed by the erstwhile government are inclined towards RSS ideology. If we want avoid a JNU like situation in the state, their appointments must be revoked,” Deshmukh said. “I will personally meet chief minister Uddhav Thackeray soon to make the demand before him,” he added.

Pramod Bapat, west zone in-charge, media relations, RSS, said that this is a political demand. “Opposing one’s ideology is okay but saying that you don’t want people following a particular ideology in an institution is not good. This is a political demand. Moreover, RSS followers come from all walks of the life,” Bapat said.

REVIEW OF OTHER APPOINTMENTS

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray has begun the process of scrapping appointments by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on statutory boards, corporations, committees, and commissions.

After removing political appointments in City Industrial Development Company (Cidco), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), and bodies governed under the medical education department, the state will turn its attention to other bodies soon. On Thursday, medical education minister Uday Samant announced that all appointments made on the committees under his departments stand to be cancelled. Chief secretary Ajoy Mehta has directed all departments to submit reports of the appointments of non-official members for various bodies.

Barring appointments done for specific periods and by authorities like the governor, all other office bearers will be removed soon. According to an official from the general administration department, the Fadnavis-led government had appointed workers and leaders from the BJP and Shiv Sena on about 35 of 88 such bodies. Some appointments cannot be cancelled as specified in the laws governing them. “All remaining appointments will soon be cancelled,” the official said.