PUNE: Renowned economist Sanjeev Sanyal has been offered the post of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) chancellor nine days after Bibek Debroy, the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, resigned from the position.
Servants of India Society (SIS), which manages the institute, sent Sanyal an appointment letter on Friday.SIS officials are now awaiting his formal acceptance. The chancellorship is a five-year term effective from Oct 7.
SIS president Damodar Sahoo said, “Before Debroy was appointed chancellor we had offered the post to Sanyal, and he had accepted it. But the position was then offered to Debroy.We are positive that Sanyal will accept the post now. We are sure that institute will flourish under his leadership.”
Ramakant Lenka, a member of SIS, said the decision to appoint him was unanimously taken by all SIS members. Debroy had stepped down as GIPE chancellor on Sept 26 citing “moral grounds” because Ajit Ranade, the vice-chancellor of GIPE removed from the post by him, was given ad-interim relief by Bombay HC.Debroy had also written to University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Jagadesh Kumar alleging that GIPE was in “direct violation” of the UGC regulations for deemed universities regarding the continued tenure of Ranade as VC.
Ranade was removed from the VC’s post on Sept 14 after a fact-finding committee set up by Debroy found him in violation of eligibility rules for deemed universities, which require a VC candidate to have at least 10 years of teaching experience.
Ranade moved HC on Sept 18 challenging his removal and seeking reinstatement. The court granted him ad-interim relief by allowing him to continue as VC until Sept 23. This relief was extended thrice for various reasons, such as regular bench not being in session, and paucity of time. On Oct 4, a two-judge bench placed the case for Monday.
