One is not sure how the story finally plays out. In this column of the Bihar Times, we carried a series of stories exposing the malpractices that the Nalanda University was riddled with. It was another UPA-era scam – with less number of zeros attached to it- because the mentors could not mobilize the expected amount of money from East Asian Summit states. In the last nine months the Modi government has done precious little to expose this fraud. The delay in giving Amartya Sen a second term may or may not be a signal for him to quit. It might be plain administrative delay.

 

But its time one revisited the legality of Amartya Sen’s appointment of Chancellor in 2012 itself. We had flagged the issue at that time. Amartya was leading the Governing Board, which recommended his name as the Chancellor. As per the Clause 11 (1) of the Nalanda University the Visitor (i.e. President of India) should appoint the Chancellor from a panel of not less than three persons recommended by the Governing Board. The Governing Board, in short, is the selection committee. Amartya Sen was then leading the Selection Committee that recommended his own name.

 

A subsequent retrieval of the Minutes of the Third Meeting of the Governing Board of Nalanda University at Beijing on October 14-15, 2011 under RTI Act established the correctness of that contention. We reproduce the excerpts of those minutes. It proves that the Governing Board (which was chaired by Amartya Sen) had already decided to nominate Amartya Sen as the Chancellor. So it created make-believe panel of three names viz. Prof. Amartya Sen, Wang Gungwu, and Lord Meghnad Desai all of whom were members of the Governing Board for the Chancellor’s post. As an eye-wash it added Professor Sheldon Pollock, Professor Noburo Karashima. Interesting Prof. Pollock and Prof. Karashima were dummy candidates who were never contacted for their consent. It was akin to Prof. Amartya Sen putting up ‘dummy candidates’ in the form of Prof. Ramchandra Guha and Prof. Pratapa Bhanu Mehta for the post of Vice Chancellorship whereas he had already made up his decision in form of Dr. Gopa Sabharwal.

It is immaterial that Amartya Sen was had courteously (or tactically) moved out of the room when this nomination process of Chancellor was on. Whether he was in the loo or in café – he was always in the loop. Being the Chairman of the Governing Board he was responsible for all the decisions. The Governing Board feared that within ten days (November 25, 2011) their extended term might come to an end. Therefore, they wished to put Amartya Sen as Chancellor so that at least his three-year term can be secured. But Amartya now proves he has no inclination to quit.  

In sulking for a second term, Amartya has proven how power-hungry he is. But that should come as surprise only to the uninitiated.

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