Prof Deen appointed new registrar of Magadh University

GAYA: Governor-cum-Chancellor Fagu Chauhan has appointed Prof Sidhnath Prasad Deen as the new registrar of Magadh University, replacing Captain Jagat Singh Rana. Deen was selected from a panel recommended by MU VC Prof Rajendra Prasad. A notification was issued on December 14 to appoint the zoology department professor as the registrar.
Though the notification has cited health reasons for Rana’s removal, well placed sources said he was removed as he did not get along with Prasad and remained absent most of the time since his appointment as the VC.
Insiders say soon after joining as VC on September 26, 2019, Prasad asked officials to work overtime to bring the university back on rail. For about nine months before his appointment, the university had been functioning in an ad hoc manner.
In December 2018, the then VC Prof Qamar Ahsan was removed following his refusal to resign as desired by the Chancellor. A few months later, pro-VC Prof KN Paswan resigned after being pulled up by the Raj Bhavan for lacklustre performance. The university remained headless for several months.
While other university officials pledged to cooperate with the VC, Rana, as per reports expressed his inability to work beyond the office hours till 5pm. Following differences with the VC, he stopped functioning with effect from October 25. Prof Deen functioned as officiating registrar in Rana’s absence. The Raj Bhavan notification mentioned the absence of the registrar from October 25 onwards.
According to Raj Bhavan sources, the policy of appointing ex-Army officers as registrar has not gone down well with several VCs and the Chancellor’s office has received several complaints in this regard from other universities of the state.
Asked about the response of the Federation of University Teachers Association of Bihar to the appointment of ex-Army officers as registrars, its president Kanhaiya Bahadur said the registrars, financial advisers and finance officers appointed in the universities of the state must be familiar with the functioning of the system, provisions of the Bihar State Universities Act, statutes and executive orders issued from time to time.
If any Army officer was found to be familiar with the university system, there was no harm in appointing such officers as registrars. But the assumption that per se Army officers are good registrars was wrong, he said.